Happy New Year
(…at least I’m in time for Chinese New Year)
I was meaning to post something on the 1st of January and kick-start the year with a new writing regime but it’s taken me most of January to get back into some sort of basic routine, as I’m sure is the same for a lot of people. In December there’s so much going on; the usual every-day busyness, Christmas get-togethers, travel, getting ready for Christmas day, and then the day itself, and then more meeting up with family and friends afterwards, and then New Year celebrations… As an introvert I get ‘peopled out’ very easily, so, it takes a lot of time and effort just to plan everything, in a way that takes into consideration diminishing energy levels, not to mention unforeseen winter illnesses. By the time January hits I’m in no mood for ‘new year, new me’, new anything. I just want to collapse.
Don’t get me wrong, moaning aside, I love Christmas – it’s a time for connecting with other people, for sharing one another. I think it’s important to relinquish our inner Scrooge, and open our hearts, to keep the spirit of Christmas alive all year round…or at the very least acknowledge the opportunity to renew our faith in goodness even if our actions falter. But I struggle with endings and beginnings – and the cross-over between Christmas and New Year doesn’t seem to allow time for either.
Too much crammed into a too short space of time.
Christmas, after all, is meant to be a twelve-day affair. We remember the song but not the ritual. You hear people exclaiming, all over the Christmas period, “All this build up for one day”. And then we wonder why we do it. But we do do it – whether for religious reasons, or for the sake of family or children, or simply for the joy the festivities bring. But we forget it’s not just about that one day.
Twelfth Night for my family is simply a reminder to take the Christmas decorations down – it’s considered bad luck to leave them up beyond the 6th January – superstition has overwritten tradition. The festive season traditionally starts on Christmas day and ends on the eve of Epiphany. It’s meant to be a season of spiritual growth.
Christianity usurped the older tradition of Yule, also 12 days – from the winter solstice to the 1st January. It’s also a time of spiritual renewal with the symbolic focus being the sun. Also in the mix is Saturnalia, a 7-day event of merriment and goodwill, from the 17th of December to the 23rd. Our modern celebrations have elements of all them, and no doubt a few more, besides. And on top of all that since the global agreement of the Gregorian Calander, we have New Year to celebrate too (which incorporates a lot of the older Hogmanay traditions. Hogmanay presumed to date back to the more ancient winter solstice festivities).
No wonder there has been a dis-acknowledgement of sacredness and depth. What started as a 12-day event to help us move with the changing seasons, give praise and thanks for the renewal of life, and guide us from darkness to light (whether in the Pagan or Christian sense), has now turned into two days, a week apart, of feasting and partying and a welcome break from work and school. It’s become a brief escape from day-to-day responsibilities before going ‘back to normal’ on January 2nd.
What was once a time to engage with the sacredness of life is now a time of turning away from reality.
So, here I am, trying to imagine how the festive season could feel and what New Year might come to be, for myself.
My body has been trying to tell me for years that the staggered and rushed celebrations followed by a heroic leap into productivity is NOT for me. I am invariably, done in, for most of January. I find myself feeling ill and run down and in need of restoration.
I find in general, that I need to begin the day slowly, so why should it be any different for the year? Maybe, instead of trying to jump into a new year, I should let it unfold naturally. Perhaps, January needs to be a time of nurturing; of reflection and preparation. What if, the Gregorian New Year marked the awakening of the year? and Chinese New Year marked the beginning of renewed activity? And let’s not forget that endings and beginnings are a part of changes throughout the year.
Life happens naturally in seasons.
(now I’ve got The Byrds stuck in my head)
Personally, I find autumn to be a good time for renewing or starting projects. My birthday, also happens to be in autumn, marking the beginning of a new personal year. Might it not be wise then, to allow for ‘beginnings’ rituals throughout the year?
For now, it is Chinese New Year (which lasts for 15 days and is based on a lunar calendar). It’s the year of the wood snake.
I like the animal symbolism that comes with the Chinese year changes. It gives me something to think about. I’m not a believer in the ability of astrology to predict the future but I am a believer in the Jungian idea of astrology being part of an archetypal understanding of human experience. So, it’s both fun and intriguing to think about what the snake represents, and its potential in us, to affect what might come to pass.
Plus, I do think it’s nice for the year to be symbolised by something other than its numeric. After all, days and months have symbolic names. January is named after the Roman God Janus, who had two faces to see both past and future (making me think, even more so, that January is a good month for both reflection and preparation).
Happy New Year!
蛇行天下，步步高升!
May you slither through life, rising higher with each step!
