It’s the season that we in this country are not sure what to call so that no one’s offended.
Celebrations can be touchy. Scotland banned Christmas celebrations from the 1560s until 1958 because Scots didn’t want to spend money frivolously and Presbyterians simply weren’t enthralled with Catholics and Papism.
So, celebrants held clandestine observances. For 400 years.
Boston Puritans banned Christmas for 22 years in the 1600s to prevent “disorders and superstition” because the Massachusetts Bay Colony deemed it offensive to dishonor God with myths brought from “other” countries.
Know what happened? Disobedient Puritan kids discovered that music, evergreens and lighted candles were uplifting.
The Chinese New Year is the world’s largest annual human migration, when millions of families reunite and give each other red envelopes of money. They blast fireworks to ward off evil. They honor a zodiac animal.
Maybe if we were all saintly, we wouldn’t have a need for ceremonies. Or maybe we simply need soul nourishment – believing that everything we do matters.
Holiday celebrants aren’t trying to save the world, just awaken it.
Happy Every Day, Every One.