When the long grey months of winter are over, and the first green shoots start pushing up through the soil, the arrival of spring feels like a miracle we can never quite get used to. Days start getting longer, the air lighter and cleaner, and there’s a sense of things coming back to life.
No wonder we want to throw open windows and give our homes a thorough clean. It’s almost as if we’re sweeping the winter darkness, literally and metaphorically, from our lives and, just like nature, embracing revival and renewal.
According to some sources, the tradition of spring-cleaning comes from the Persian New Year, which falls on the first day of spring, and householders in Iran still practise khaneh tekani ‘shaking the house’ in preparation for this day. Other sources suggest that it’s linked to the Jewish tradition of cleansing the house of every crumb of leavened foodstuffs ahead of the Passover festival, a ritual symbolic of the Israelites’ flight from Egypt, as recorded in the Old Testament.
In more recent times, the Victorian-era ‘housewife superstar’ Mrs Isabella Beeton was an acknowledged authority on all things domestic for mid-19th century English householders. Spring-cleaning meant ‘the house putting on … a bright appearance, and a new face, in unison with nature.’ Mrs Beeton provided a daunting list of tasks, including ‘sweeping of chimneys, taking up carpets, painting and whitewashing the kitchen and offices, [and] papering rooms,’ helpfully adding ‘oranges should now be preserved, and orange wine made.’[1]
Thankfully, in the 21st century, there’s no need to feel overwhelmed. Start by checking that you have everything you need to refresh your home, remembering that some of your best friends in home care could be in your pantry, like vinegar, lemon juice and olive or coconut oil. The Koala Eco Best Seller Collection is the perfect go-to for your spring-cleaning needs, because it has our top Multi-purpose Kitchen and Bathroom cleaners as well as other versatile products. Our Natural Floor Cleaner is also brilliant for wooden furniture, for example, and another fabulous multi-tasker is our Natural Dish Soap with Lemon Myrtle and Mandarin: mixed with a bucket of warm water, this is a great cleaner for just about anything, and not just the dishes. All of these products will clean effectively while making your home smell as divine inside as all those delicious spring aromas outside.
And if you have any energy left over to make Mrs Beeton’s orange wine? Ninety Seville oranges, 32lbs of lump sugar, water and a 10-day process of straining, pulping and standing, followed by ten months of fermentation will make nine gallons of a ‘very superior’ beverage!
[1] Beeton’s Book of Household Management, 1861.
