Spring cleaning throughout the centuries
Spring cleaning bodes well for home and mind, but how was the tradition originally conceived? How has it persisted since antiquity and into modern times?
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Many of us get satisfaction out of spring cleaning – whether it involves dusting, vacuuming, polishing…whatever it takes to get your home spick and span. Decluttering the home also has the benefit of clearing the mind.
Still, you might have wondered why people always wait until the spring to embark on such exhaustive cleaning. Is it just a matter of habit, or are there genuine practical reasons? The answer lies many centuries in the past, as Sky HISTORY were stunned to discover.
Ancient origins of spring cleaning
Many ancient customs have a lot in common with spring cleaning as we know it today. One case in point is the Persian tradition of ‘Nowruz’ – where, every spring, Iranians thoroughly clean everything in the house.
Similarly, Jewish people have traditionally been in the habit of cleaning their homes from top to bottom in the spring. One intention here is to rid the home of any leavened food, which they are prohibited from consuming during Passover.
Another possible religious inspiration for spring cleaning is the Catholic tradition of cleaning the church altar on Maundy Thursday, just before Good Friday.
Are humans just naturally inclined to spring clean?
Whether or not spring cleaning can be traced back to religious origins, we can also likely attribute it to natural impulse. The more sunlight we get, the less melatonin our bodies produce, leaving us with more energy for exhaustive endeavours like spring cleaning.
Also, long before humans discovered electricity, wood-burning fireplaces and lamps were customarily used during winter. These produced lots of soot that would cling to interiors. The increased warmth and sunlight of spring gave households a break from those appliances – and the ideal opportunity to remove the soot.
Seasonal cleaning advice from Medieval times
Contrary to popular belief, people in the Middle Ages did not necessarily rejoice in accumulating dirt. Some did, usually as a form of piety. On the whole, though, the importance of cleanliness was emphasised to rich and poor alike.
At the time, neglecting personal hygiene was believed to bring on parasites. Parasites were even thought to develop directly out of dirt itself, rather than eggs laid on people’s bodies and fabrics. Nonetheless, how successfully Medieval households did keep muck at bay often depended on their wealth.
Lower classes typically had to resort to more rudimentary cleaning methods. These included rinsing linens in rivers and at washhouses, whereas affluent households could opt to delegate cleaning jobs to servants. Such jobs may have included the (possibly literally) backbreaking work of carrying water.
The effect of the Industrial Revolution
Some supposedly ‘normal’ cleaning practices of centuries ago would make us baulk now. For example, while it was routine during the Medieval period for poorer households to make their own soap, the Industrial Revolution led to mass-produced soap.
Of course, many of us today buy detergent as a matter of course when supermarket shopping. Such cleaning agents are made by companies that really know what they’re doing.
In sharp contrast, the rather more, erm, ‘homemade’ cleaning agents used by our Medieval forebears included – wait for it – urine. Apparently, the ammonia in it was the magic ingredient, helping cleaners to loosen otherwise stubborn grease.
Also consider the example of the humble broom. Early brooms were made in makeshift fashion from twigs haphazardly tied together. However, the Shakers (the 18th-century Christian sect led by Mother Ann Lee) reinvented the formula, improving the physical resilience of brooms for future generations.
How tech has changed the cleaning game
Well into Queen Victoria’s reign, cleaning continued to be seen as a burdensome chore. Mercifully, though, as electric cleaning devices like vacuum cleaners and washing machines went mainstream, cleaning became much easier, saving valuable time.
The smartphone age has even seen the rise of robot vacuums. Now you can program the vacuum to clean a particular room of your home and then just…leave them to it. It’s a far cry from the days when lowly paid servants would be left in distress under the severe weight of their cleaning workload.
As artificial intelligence continues to improve, could future cleaning devices be more akin to Rosey, the robot maid from The Jetsons? We’ll have to wait and see, but one thing’s for sure – your own spring cleaning efforts are likely to feel much more therapeutic than stressful.
Spring cleaning isn’t the only mentally reinvigorating move you can make. You can also sign up for the Sky HISTORY newsletter, ensuring you get regular updates about exciting new shows heading to our channel.
