This is a passage from the The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison during chapter 6. In this passage the speaker remembers the spring and associates it with the beating that he would receive during that time. Where they would beat him with green switches (form of branch) that would still hurt long after the beating was over. This memory and association caused a very specific pain when thinking about summer.
Tough when there's no picture but I can tell you that when Spain invaded South America, Catholicism was forced upon and eventually spread. France was predominantly catholic too but I can't fully answer the question without info