Indian summer
Indian summer is a name given to a period of sunny, warm weather just before winter. This time is usually in late October or early November (Northern hemisphere) / late April or early May (Southern hemisphere), sometime after the first frost. It can persist for just a few days or sometimes over a week.
The term is also used metaphorically to refer to anything that blooms late, or unexpectedly, or after is has been assumed to be no longer interesting or relevant. For example: "The team experienced an Indian summer, winning the series after losing the first six games". Compare this usage to renaissance.
The term has been used for well over two centuries and its origins have been lost. There are several theories as to its etymology:
- It may be so named because this was the traditional period where North American First Nations/Native American peoples would harvest their fall crops.
- In The Americans, The Colonial Experience, Daniel J. Boorstin speculates that the term originated from raids on European colonies by Indian war parties; these raids usually ended in autumn, hence the extension to summer-like weather was an "Indian" summer. This is unlikely, as the first recorded instance of the term happened in 1778, by which time such raids would have become uncommon.
- It could be so named because the phenomenon was more common in what were then North American Indian territories, as opposed to the Eastern seaboard.
- It may be of Asian Indian, rather than North American Indian, origin. H. E. Ware, an English writer, noted that ships at that time traversing the Indian Ocean loaded up their cargo the most during the "Indian Summer", or fair weather season. Several ships actually had an "I.S." on their hull at the load level thought safe during the Indian Summer.
In the San Francisco Bay Area inland summer heat draws fog in off the ocean. As a result summers in San Francisco tend to be cold and foggy. Consequently Indian summer in San Francisco refers to the end of summer when it cools in the inland valleys and the weather gets less foggy and warmer.
Indian Summer is also the name of a specialist production by Nancy Medder, distributed on VHS and DVD in Europe and the United States.
80.43.45.71 20:24, 21 September 2005 (UTC) By Matthew Weatherall :P