Spring is the time of the year to clean the house, when everyone gears up and starts working on a complete checklist for the season. But why does this happen? When did it start? Well, the key motivator, of course, is that after a long winter season with a closed house people just want to smell the fresh air again.
But more than that, this habit has a great story behind it. Keep reading to find out what is it!
“No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn. - Hal Borland
The Story Behind Spring Cleaning
The tradition of spring cleaning goes back to a distant past, rooted in two cultures: the Jewish and the Iranian. There are a few things that indicate the Chinese also have something to do with this tradition, so here’s a bit more about each one.
Let’s start with the Jewish then.
In this culture, they have this thing called the Passover (Pesach) which is a time of the year to clean the house. It’s meant to mark the departure of the Jews from Egypt. Back then, not only Jews, but all slaves in Egypt were fed unleavened bread.
Since the slaves were freed, during Passover it is considered ungrateful to keep leavened bread in the house. So, to avoid being arrogant to their God, the Jews have a tradition to thoroughly clean the house before Passover - which happens around April, hence the origin of spring cleaning.
The Iranian culture, on the other hand,
Celebrates their new year on March 21st. Their celebrations last two weeks and part of their ritual is to clean the house. That’s because they have this ideal of time for refreshing and reinvigoration life - which, of course, includes the house you live in too. However, they take no shortcuts, every single bit of the house is cleaned!
Once that’s done, spring can finally blossom.
Lastly, the Chinese culture!
Much like the Iranian, the Chinese like to get their house cleaned before the new year. It’s a way to get rid of bad luck and misfortune that may have accumulated during the past year (the Chinese culture has a lot of belief in energies revolving people).
Same way, they avoid sweeping a few days following the new year to prevent from sweeping away good luck.
Why It’s Important
Now that you know where it comes from, how about understanding why it is actually important? It’s not just a matter of your house being spotless, there’s also a matter of health and more involved. Here are some reasons why you should always spring clean:
- Improve indoor air quality
- Reduce allergies symptoms
- Declutter
- A clean home can improve your mood
- Donate things you don’t use anymore
- Spend some family time cleaning together
- Great time for calorie-burning
- Give yourself rewards for your spring cleaning achievements
Doesn’t this list sound great? I particularly like the idea of getting the family involved in this process. It’s a great way to create a family tradition and teach the kids a thing or two about cleaning - life hacks they will most definitely need in their adult years. Why not start now, right?
Benefits of Spring Cleaning
Even more than that, spring cleaning also brings a lot of benefits to you and your family. Besides reducing allergies, these are a few more benefits I think you would enjoy having during/after spring cleaning:
- Increased productivity
- Happiness
- Stress reduction
While thinking about everything you’ll have to do may be a bit overwhelming, the process itself and once you’re done with it will increase your energy levels and actually make your days more productive. Isn’t that great?
Not only that, but taking the time to create a tidy home makes people happier - there are even studies to prove this. Your mood will surely improve once you go through the spring cleaning process, especially if you do it on your own time and with your favorite tunes playing in the background.
Remember what I’m talking about here:
Spring cleaning is supposed to bring you peace and happiness, so if you’re feeling each day more stressed with all the cleaning, take a break! The cleaning and organizing is a way to relieve stress, not accumulate it, so be realistic and take one step at a time. You’ll be surprised by how the process will help you with stress-reduction if you do it right.
Need some help with the cleaning? Get a free quote from a cleaning service!