Every year, when the spring sun is gaining strength, the nights are getting shorter and the days longer, we feel the need to say goodbye to winter with a big clean.
At our branch in Frankfurt am Main, today was the day.
Some hard-working "little helpers" got together and used the nice weather to start the spring-cleaning.
But, where does the old custom of spring-cleaning actually come from?
It is a living tradition that even existed in ancient Roman times.
“Februare” means to clean, and so February in the Roman Empire was officially the month in which winter was chased out of the house with a cleansing ritual. In more northern areas, the annually recurring house cleaning took place and takes place in March or April due to the longer winters, in some regions even only from the months without R - i.e. from May. And in the high mountains, where snow can still fall until early summer, people often wait until June. Then it really starts with the cleaning, which lasted several days and involved all family members and, in the case of rich city people and wealthy farmers, also the servants.
The warmer temperatures of the approaching spring were used to ventilate properly. Soot, ash and dust were removed and everything was washed and cleaned.
As of today, our vehicles are shining bright yellow again and are trying to compete with the sun ;-)
