The “square” between science and the folklore rooted in the memory of our ancestors

Weather of Arabia - The “winter forty” comes every year amid fear and anticipation, as it is considered the coldest period of winter, during which diseases of colds and seasonal flu increase, but we hope that the forty (or square) brings us goodness from winter and rain, and perhaps snow, and the watering of mercy that irrigates Land and planting.

When does the "square" begin and when does it end?

The square, or “winter forty,” begins on the 21st of December of each year, and continues for 40 days until the end of January , in what is known as “the quanites.” The square is associated with the true onset of winter, and the accompanying decline in winter. Temperatures and abundance of good rain, which carries an estimated 30% - 40% of the volume of the rainy season.

From the scientific point of view, the square begins on the day of the winter solstice , so the sun rises on its first day from the far southeast, while it sets in the far southwest, and on this day the shortest day of the year and the longest night, after which the length of the day begins to gradually increase.

Square in popular and traditional beliefs

Over the past decades, the “square” has been associated with many popular beliefs that sang the goodness of this season, and warned at the same time of the cold that accompanies it, and the large amounts of rain that can sometimes cause natural disasters.

Popular proverbs and many sayings that accompanied the ancestors over the past decades include predictions or forecasts of weather during the forty winter period, based on the experience of their elders, and accordingly farmers and families used to organize their lives according to these sayings.

Among the most important things recorded in heritage books are these proverbs:

• “Al-Murabaaniyyah, oh, square, oh, tiqab”: Either the square is carrying goodness and people are happy with it, or sometimes it is very severe and takes money, crops, and people, so it is said that it is “a hat.”
• “Al-Murabaaniyyah, oh sun burns, oh rain drowns”: If it rains in Azara, it will be a good season, and if it is sunny, then the season will not be good.
• “Al-Murabaaniyyah, oh you shine, oh you drown”: in the sense that we are either witnessing dry east winds or moist west winds that bring us abundant rain.

And all of them pour into the same meaning that the Arbaeen winter or “square” depends on what is at its beginning, as it is either rainy and remains the same throughout the forty days (varying rains), and if it comes sunny, its rains remain little relative to the usual rainy volume.

The researcher and specialist in Jordanian folklore, Taha al-Hababah, said that the name “Al-Murabaniyah” is taken from the spring, that is, the period with which the flowers begin to appear after pruning the trees. It ends at the end of January.

Al-Hababah shows that this period is considered to be volatile, with fluctuating weather conditions, and in some years it passes unnoticed, without hurricanes and winds, and without severe cold. If it comes before a winter wave, it will be very cold and frigid, and if it comes after a winter period, it will pass nicely warm.

And as is the case with all popular phenomena, such as farming, harvesting and pruning trees, we find that the popular sentiment of stories, proverbs and anecdotes flourish in this atmosphere, as al-Hababah says, and it may reach the point of sarcasm when one person says to another, “Your face is as dry as a square, because The air of this period dries up the face, with accompanying chills.”

Some of the elderly, according to al-Hababah, date the birth of children to the year of the square, which dried up the crops and the udder, as they say, and it is mentioned that the seasons that come after the end of the square, are greatly affected by its results, so the slaughterer’s saad comes more cruel than it, and reptiles and rodents abound in the crypts’ saad. As for Saad Al-Saud, he is ashamed of that year.

quadrature in climate records

The Kingdom sometimes witnesses at the beginning of the “winter forties” depressions accompanied by varying rains, which informs farmers that the rainy season will be suitable for agriculture, so farmers begin to plow the land and prepare it for cultivation, and this period is considered critical for farmers at the same time, as the decline leads to below zero significantly damage crops.

The arrival of the Arbaeen date is not necessarily related to rainfall directly, as the nature of the movement of depressions depends on a large number of complex factors, including wind movement, atmospheric pressure values, and temperatures in the layers of the atmosphere, but it does not depend on the temperature in the first days of the winter season.

It may be a period of intense rain or dryness at times, as happened in some years, but it is considered the “most appropriate” period for the arrival of the polar air masses, for the maturity of the Mediterranean fronts, and for the stability of the winter systems.

Despite all these scientific weather forecasts or popular beliefs, families, of course, are preparing “actually” to enter the winter season and the great drop in temperatures since the first day of entering the “Al-Murabaaniyya”, by preparing heating supplies, heavy blankets, and warm clothes, in addition to To prepare for depressions that may come successively during this period, even if the amount of rain varies, but temperatures always seem low.