Light Festivals

December 13th, 2006

Festivals of light
There are many festivals of light that happen at this time of year. Let’s explore some of them and see how they can help us on our spiritual journey.

Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa is a celebration that incorporates light. It’s the celebration of the first fruits of the harvest and is a time when people celebrate the five fundamental activities of harvesting the first fruits: ingathering, reverence, commemoration, recommitment and celebration. During this time bonds are reaffirmed, Creator and all the gifts of creation are remembered in reverence, the successes and pursuits of the past are recalled to be learned from, people recommit to creating the Grandest Version of the Greatest Vision they have for themselves and Africa in cultural thought and practice, and the good of all life and Divinity. A day of meditation is also part of this time for reverence and recommitment. The Candle Holder itself is a symbol of roots to their ancestors: continental Africans. The Seven Candles represent the Seven Principles: values to live by designed to help the African people live the lives they want to live and be empowered in all they do. The symbolic lighting of the candles takes the people from their origins through the past and into hope for the future.

Hanukkah
This celebration of light is a Jewish holiday commemorating the miracle of one day’s worth of oil lasting eight days. The Jews wanted to rededicate the Temple of Jerusalem but only had one day’s worth of oil. They decided to light the oil in the menorah anyway and it lasted eight days which was enough time for them to consecrate more sacred oil. The lighting of the menorah, which now holds eight candles representing the eight days, is a tradition that comes at this time of the year as well. The date is actually based on the Jewish calendar which is why, on our Gregorian calendar, its starting date is different every year. Gift giving was added to the tradition of Hanukkah, but only for the children. It might have been mainly for Jewish children living in countries that are primarily Christian. I would imagine they saw the Christmas tradition of gift giving coinciding with Hanukkah and wanted gifts to be part of their celebration.

Christmas
At its foundation Christmas is a celebration marking the birth of a child, 2000 years ago, who was predicted to return light to the earth. It is recorded that, at the time of this birth, the place of his birth was pointed out by a large star shining over the building. One part of the festivities includes giving gifts representing the gifts the Magi gave to the child. Hanging star shaped lights reminds us of the star that marked the place of the birth. When the powers that be, many years ago, determined that Christmas would work well combined with other rituals at this time of year and many of the traditions and practices of different celebrations were combined. Because of this decorated trees and many other traditions are part of the celebrations of Christmas. But it boggles my mind to wonder how the whole fruit cake thing got started. If Kwanzaa had come first I’d think someone had tried to meld the two celebrations by incorporating fruit into Christmas.

Advent Garden
At the Waldorf Schools children have an advent garden where, one at a time, they walk through a spiral of greenery leading up to a center of light (a large candle) where they light their smaller candle (our school uses short tapers in a candle holder made out of a live apple) and place it on one of the stars positioned on the floor within the spiral. As each child lights their candle and places it around the spiral the once dark room is now filled with light. It is done quietly and in reverence.

Winter Solstice
Celebrating the turn of the year from autumn to winter and the return of longer days is the center of this tradition. It’s held on the 21st of December when the earth tilts on its axis and begins its journey back to the light. The good new is that it won’t get any darker and warmer days are ahead, but only after the colder ones. From what I read the celebration includes celebrating a “Children’s Day” to honor the children with the intention of bringing light, warmth and cheerfulness into our hearts and lives at this time of the year when the daylight hours are darkest. In some traditions a Yule Log is burned to have a magical effect on making the sun shine more brightly. Mistletoe was considered sacred by many and was hung in homes to extend goodwill to all who entered the home.

Disclaimer
As with all things that didn’t actually happen to me personally (and you in your life) I can only report stories I have heard and these are the stories that have come to me about these celebrations. How I feel about them, is true. So forgive me any discrepancies between the stories you have heard about these celebrations and the stories I have heard about these celebrations. Except for Kwanzaa, whose founder is still alive to tell us how and why it was created, all other celebrations have been passed down through story, both verbal and written, and traditions so whose to say where any of this stuff came from? And no matter how convinced you are of what you have heard about these celebrations and traditions you have to see the truth of the matter in that you weren’t there when they started and you don’t really know, personally, why things are done the way they are done.

Disclaimer conclusion
The best we can do in our lives is to do what feels right to us and makes us happy. Note that I said what feels right. So, if your traditions feel good to you, it doesn’t matter that we remember exactly what happened when. What does matter is allowing it to bring us closer to our family, our hearts, our light, and appreciation of how wonderful our lives are, because our lives truly are wonderful.

Coinciding celebrations
Christmas, Kwanzaa, Advent, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, the Yule (or is that another name for the winter solstice?), Saint Nicolas Day and Saturnalia. Let me know if you celebrate or know of any others.

Light festivals as a reminder of Who We Are
It seems at the heart of these celebrations of light is the reminder of our Divinity: the remembering that we are Light and are filled with Light, even though the days are mostly dark. It seems to say, “Find the light within yourself and bring forth your joy from within.” That’s the only place you’ll ever find it because that’s where it eternally is. If our joy always comes from inside then we’re always happy, no matter what the external circumstances are.

Darkness as an invitation to self-care
The darkness descends earlier and the lightness comes later, leading up to the turning of the year when it starts to get light again at the winter solstice. During these dark times we are encouraged to go within. The darkness seems to be calling us to slow down, do less, relax and sleep more. Think about it, before electric and gas lights all we had was candles or the light from the fire in the hearth to light our homes during the darkness of the night. I don’t know about you but candlelight and firelight calm me and make me feel drowsy and want to relax. If we take advantage of this time when the light and the energy of the earth is calling us to rest and relax we can be nurtured and rested when Spring comes with all its activities and renewals. If we’ve taken the time in the darker days then we come into the Spring with renewed energy, renewed interest in life and renewed zest for life and living. This is a gift we can give to our children of living life in harmony with nature and its rhythms.

Conclusions
What feels right to you at this time of the year? I know I find it difficult to heed the call to get more sleep. If I had grown up living in rhythm with nature and sleeping more during the winter months and less during the summer months it would be easy now. Then again I have to wonder how that would affect me now when I have to go out in the evenings, after dark, for parent meetings or other events. I’m going to incorporate a little bit of that into my daughter’s routine so she can sleep more in the winter and less in the summer but not so that it could cause problems later. Life is such a dance! The best way to know what to do is doing what feels good. By using our guidance system in this way we will always be on the right path.

Thank you
A warm thank you goes out to Common Ground Fellowship for having a representative of each festival come out for December’s Sacred Space Gathering to explain to everyone just what each festival was about. Thank you.

Happy Solstice!
Happy Hanukkah!
Merry Christmas!
Happy Kwanzaa!