Winter. It's a drag.
It's cold, and dark, and divisive. Our natural inclination is to curl up in holes far away from the elements and each other, but our habits keep us out and about, working, interacting, and getting colder and crankier with every frigid, lightless day.
That's the real purpose behind Winter holidays. You can research all sorts of reasons historical and religious, but the REAL basis for all of it is to trick us into surviving through the Winter. We fill the darkness with light, fill the silence with song, light fires and bake cookies and tell ourselves wildly improbable stories that remind us to treat each other with kindness. We have devised ironclad conventions that force us to consider the needs and desires of others, and the available activities to distract us from our natural feelings of bitterness and isolation are legion.
And, as a failsafe, for those of a secular nature who don't participate in any of the available celebrations, the month of December culminates in: The New Year. What better reason could you have to turn up the lights and the heat and the song, and put anything bad behind you? And what other reason could there be to choose to start each year in the middle of such miserable climatic conditions?
When the Sun barely makes an appearance each day, and the wind is cruel, and the colors are dreary and the trees seem dead, it's easy to forget how Hope feels. We need a reason not to bash each other's skulls in or jump off a cliff or crawl into a hole. . .We know the miracle of Spring will come in a few months, but we need miracles NOW.
So we made some.
And whether you celebrate Hanukkah, or Christmas, or Solstice, or Kwanzaa, or Sadeh, or Saturnalia--the list continues--It's good to remind yourself, occasionally, that its original and central purpose is to protect you from the negative feelings Winter instills. So if you're stressing out about those holidays, and getting short-tempered or exasperated, well. . .That sort of cancels it out, doesn't it? Renders it useless. So take a deep breath. Smile. Think of one of the thousands of uplifting holiday stories. We'll survive the Winter as long as we keep sunlight in our hearts.
Merry Everything, my friends.
It's cold, and dark, and divisive. Our natural inclination is to curl up in holes far away from the elements and each other, but our habits keep us out and about, working, interacting, and getting colder and crankier with every frigid, lightless day.
That's the real purpose behind Winter holidays. You can research all sorts of reasons historical and religious, but the REAL basis for all of it is to trick us into surviving through the Winter. We fill the darkness with light, fill the silence with song, light fires and bake cookies and tell ourselves wildly improbable stories that remind us to treat each other with kindness. We have devised ironclad conventions that force us to consider the needs and desires of others, and the available activities to distract us from our natural feelings of bitterness and isolation are legion.
And, as a failsafe, for those of a secular nature who don't participate in any of the available celebrations, the month of December culminates in: The New Year. What better reason could you have to turn up the lights and the heat and the song, and put anything bad behind you? And what other reason could there be to choose to start each year in the middle of such miserable climatic conditions?
When the Sun barely makes an appearance each day, and the wind is cruel, and the colors are dreary and the trees seem dead, it's easy to forget how Hope feels. We need a reason not to bash each other's skulls in or jump off a cliff or crawl into a hole. . .We know the miracle of Spring will come in a few months, but we need miracles NOW.
So we made some.
And whether you celebrate Hanukkah, or Christmas, or Solstice, or Kwanzaa, or Sadeh, or Saturnalia--the list continues--It's good to remind yourself, occasionally, that its original and central purpose is to protect you from the negative feelings Winter instills. So if you're stressing out about those holidays, and getting short-tempered or exasperated, well. . .That sort of cancels it out, doesn't it? Renders it useless. So take a deep breath. Smile. Think of one of the thousands of uplifting holiday stories. We'll survive the Winter as long as we keep sunlight in our hearts.
Merry Everything, my friends.