UPDATE: Apparently, the term “onion snow” isn’t as widely known as I’d thought. Here in Central Pennsylvania, it’s a common expression for an early spring snow that comes right when the onions are sprouting in the garden. The dark green tops of wild onions are also highly visible around field edges at this time (and in centuries past, were mixed with other early greens for a welcome antidote against scurvy).
We also have a term for the occasional, heavy, wet snowfall of mid-April: that’s a sapling-bender.
An onion snow goes well with tea, I’m told.
But I had it with my coffee; it was all gone by 3:00.
It melted in the mouths of daffodils, & didn’t even turn their lips blue.
Snow & a cold wind bring out the blush on the ridgeside.
Pussy willow & red maple blossoms wear wool caps for a reason, it seems.
“Abstract expressionism” is such a stupid expression, isn’t it? I mean, if you can picture it, it obviously isn’t abstract.
I suppose it might be possible to see the world without imposing representations on it. But why would you want to?
Phoebe! says the phoebe. It’s hard to argue with that.
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Great photos! I’ve not heard the phrase ‘onion snow’ before – is that local?
Yeah, I think so. My dad says he never heard it till we moved to Central Pennsylvania.
Thanks for the link. Your site is lovely, as are this photos. I’m glad you found me!
Spectacular photos, though I, too, am new to the concept of onion snow. And I like your new site, too. Onion snow, huh?
Hi Jill – Thanks for stopping by! Make yourself at home.
Patry – I’m thinking maybe I should update the post with a brief definition of “onion snow” at the outset. (I did take a photo of the chives in my garden, but it wasn’t as good as the six I posted here.)
Thanks to both of you for your kind words about the site. I don’t aim for a lot of readers, just a few thoughtful ones; having the good opinion of writers I respect is worth a lot to me.
Onion Snow is a perfect example of a local idiom that could be obliterated under the snow of a hegemonic language, re Dale’s recent post, and the lengthy discussion at Beth’s site. Besides its rather vivid image, which stands all on its own, perhaps some photos, a poem, this year or some other year, keeping it in the language, alive, a marker of Pennsylvania, of those particular fields, of that particular moment between Winter and Spring.
Your new site is lovely. About a year ago I struggled with whether to reopen my Blogger site or start a new one with Wordpress, and still wonder about that decision. It’ll be good to hear about your experiences with it.
Though I, too, find the font a little small, much smaller than the font I have set in my preferences tab in Firefox.
Your music post brought back a flood of memories, too.
…of course i know what onion snow means! the colorado version, is a bit over the top though. a few springs ago, our onion snow wound up 3 feet deep!
…oh wait…that would have been a sapling bender!
Very nice. And I’d not heard of onion snow either. We apparently had something of the sort here yesterday. I think they call it ‘WTF? Snow?’ in the Boston area.
Brenda – This is a pretty conservative area, language-wise; what will kill idioms like that is a new generation that doesn’t know from gardening.
I’m glad you like the look of it. I find it a simple matter to change text size on webpages, but unfortunately a lot of people don’t seem to have ever exlored the drop-down menus at the top of their screen. Some bloggers recognize that, and have things in the sidebar that one can click on to change the text size. I’m sure I could get that as a plug-in, though I’m loathe to clutter up the page.
Anne – O.K., so I guess we know they say that as far east as Lancaster County!
Leslee – Thanks. I’ll bet the Car Talk guys have lots of colorful names for it…
I put your fifth picture on the big screen today and asked the class what they thought it was. (Don’t ask why. It gets involved.) Most thought it was a view through a microscope.
You’ve already entered the idiom into the slipstream of language as it flows aroung the blogosphere…
Another site I frequent uses Wordpress with the same small font- recently I set our font size to 18 in preferences because the computer is perched on top of a small filing cabinet and the keyboard is on a board on an open drawer, never mind, and it’s rather far away… the font here seems to be about 8-10pt, tiny, and I wonder if Wordpress over-rides whatever you’ve got set on your computer… I’ll try opening in Safari & IE & see… I don’t mind using the text enlarger from the drop down menu at all, just curious about this feature, that’s all.
I LOVE that one can subscribe to your comments… that’s where the discussion takes place and is submerged beneath the surface. More reading, but well worth it. A great option to have added to your feeds.
Oh, guffaw, meant “onion snow” has entered the slipstream, but, hey, I guess you have too… :)
Brenda, I’m afraid I don’t quite understand your question about the font size. I haven’t done anything, other than reset the text size on my own screen. I could go into the template and change it to a larger size, but I haven’t made up my mind to do that yet.
I LOVE that one can subscribe to your comments…
O.K., but you’re going to get a lot of pingbacks from me to myself over the next week or so as I edit internal links in some old posts. Sorry for the nuisance.
I grew up with the term Onion Snow all of my life. I asked SWMBO last night when she first heard of an Onion Snow and she said the same thing, all of her life. She grew up in central NY State and then moved to VT when she was about 12. I’d like to know were the term originated. My guess is that it has a Native American origin.
Thanks, Keith. I’m surprised my parents had never heard it before moving here, then, since all of my grandparents grew up in Eastern PA.
Peter – I’m sorry, I overlooked your comment! That’s kind of surprising that no one guessed correctly. Is it because they don’t go outside much, I wonder?
I don’t think they go out of their subdivisions much except in a car, even to the nearby bike path where they might see some snow on longer grass.
Onion snow comes far deeper from history than pennsylvania. Most likely Germany or Bavaria as it once was. France also has the legend. It was refered to as the Three Ice Men. The legend originated around three Catholic Saints. Research it if you like.
Anther neat local legend, Kunigund day. March 3rd when the frost will go no deeper. And instead will turn around and start coming out of the ground. My grandfather said you don’t plant onions until after Kunigund day.
Thanks, Joe! I appreciate the information. I’ll look into this.
As another central Pa. blogger I was surprised to find too, that the term “onion snow” wasn’t more commonly known. The only thing I’m still not clear on is if the snow has to lay on the ground for it to count as an onion snow. Or, can a snow squall count as an onion snow? I can’t get a good answer to this one.
Great photos!
Carolyn H.
http://www.roundtoprumings.blogspot.com
I think it does have to stay on the ground for at least a few hours, yeah. But this year we’ve had snow on the ground every morning for four days, now, and this is so unusual for April, I’m wondering if the term “onion snow” really fits any more. Because I think the sense of it being a one-day affair is also implicit in the term. That is to say, “onion snow” denotes a regular, familiar phenomenon, whereas this weather pattern is beginning to seem very irregular indeed.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hi there,
It’s a year later from your posting, but I linked to it anyway, because I just posted on the onion snow for March 2008 in my blog (http://scusteister.livejournal.com/#entry_14353).
Nice posting. Hope you’re enjoying 2008.
Cheers,
Links are welcome anytime; thanks. This was actually two springs ago. (I’m wincing at my photos – I really liked color saturation back then!) But we do have snow on the ground right now, and if these past few years are any guide, we can probably expect another wet snowfall or two before winter abandons us altogether.
YAHOO!!
Finally! Everyone thought I was crazy when I referred to the onion snow. I live in Seattle now, but was raised in Syracuse, New York and nobody there knew what I was talking about.
So, in checking the internet, I find your site and lo! the phrase is from Pennsylvania…Mystery solved. I spent four years in Williamsport going to Lycoming College. After 50 years, I now have a real reference.
Thanks much.
Sharon
Hey, glad this helped! Gotta love the web, right?