After last week’s below-freezing temperatures, New Yorkers are cheering that the next couple of days are in the 50s. Luckily, spring is almost here, and I don’t mean March 20, as the Gregorian calendar dictates. The lunar calendar, which Japan followed until the Meiji government made the switch while it was modernizing in 1873, puts the start date of spring six weeks earlier. In East Wind … Continue reading Setsubun Marks the Coming of Spring