Second Spring of Arda

When the Valar had completed their labours in the making of Arda, they rested on Almaren as the life of Arda began to grow beneath the light of the Lamps of the Valar in an ancient time of plenty known as the Spring of Arda. When Melkor emerged and overthrew the Lamps, Middle-earth was plunged into darkness, and the Valar departed across the Great Sea to Aman. To protect the abandoned growing things of Middle-earth, Yavanna placed them into a Sleep that would hold them ageless until the time came for their growth to resume.

The Sleep of Yavanna lasted across Middle-earth through the long Years of the Trees, a period of nearly fifteen thousand years as time would be measured by the Sun. While Aman was lit by the shining Light of the Trees, Middle-earth lay under permanent starlight. Only in Beleriand, where the Maia Melian dwelt with King Thingol in Doriath, did the Sleep relent and growth resume east of the Great Sea.

After the Darkening of Valinor and the loss of the Two Trees, the Valar sent out two great vessels carry the Moon and Sun into the sky and bring light to all of Arda. With the first coming of sunlight to Middle-earth, the Sleep of Yavanna reached its end, and the growing things across the world came to life once more. This reawakening of life at the first rising of the Sun is the time known as the Second Spring of Arda.