About six months ago.

01/02/2017

 The mood is low.

 The breakfast thing went well. To be honest, I seriously considered not doing it after all the costly mistakes but I just didn't want to start the year that way.

 The waitress was in her mid thirties or so. Had that harried look of someone holding down more than one job. I couldn't see the fireworks from where I went this time. There were just a handful of people in the place.

 The waitress was friendly but she looked tired. After pondering this for a time I began to wonder if that job was her second job and she was just volunteering for the overtime.

 Anyway, breakfast was good, things went off with no complications.

 Summer this year was rather dull.

 I dislike summer. A lot. Truly. A lot. Understand?

 My skin is extremely sensitive to direct sunlight. I found out about this on my first deployment to Spain. I'd been on the open flight-line for half and hour or so when one of my co-workers pointed out some blisters on my upper arms.

 Half an hour?

 So, I had to have prescription sunblock and had to wear long-sleeved coveralls...in Spain...in the summer. But I'm getting off track.

 This is the reason I dislike summer. Long, long days. There's just something obscene about full daylight at five in the morning.

 I though I did better socializing this year.

 I went to a number of the Bunko games that people in my office play. For those who don't know, Bunko is a stripped-down version of Yahtzee with only thee dice. The difference is that it's played as a group.

 Every month, someone else hosts. They do food and a dessert. The games usually last two to three hours. Everyone kicks in ten bucks at the start of the game and the host gets to decide how prizes are paid out. They're usually categories like most Bunko’s (that's three of the same number you're rolling for), most wins, most losses, etc...

 There are no games in November or December due to the holidays. Not sure if there's a game in January or not. I'll wait for the e-mail.

 This is problematic this year because I was going to all of the games with Bad Wendy. This won't be happening again so I'll either have to talk one of the other Wendy's into attending or going by myself. Frankly, I don't find option number two appealing.

 So there's some apprehension.

 I ran into a pair of old friends on Facebook and actually met up with one of them. Needless to say, things are different now. Our entire lives happened between when I last saw him and when I ran into him again.

 I got to visit on of those members-only clubs. It's basically a restaurant and bar that is open outside the legal hours for a 'public' establishment. It seemed interesting so Rick sponsored me in. The orientation for this is on January 9th.

 It looked like they had pool tables downstairs. I'm hoping they have a dartboard. I haven't thrown darts in ages.

 The end of the year is always difficult. Some years are better than others, there just doesn't seem to be any kind of pattern. 

 The days are already noticably longer but the nighttime temperatures are just beginning to to dip into the teens. Winter is still ahead of us, make no mistake.

 Today it's cold and wet and gloomy.

 Kinda fits the mood

 Thanks for listening

Conspiracy Theory wrote:

And, just like that, the holiday balloon pops. People are left flat. 

Ja.

A lot of the problem with "the holidays" is that our society has largely forgotten that "holiday" is a contraction or corruption of "Holy Day" , similar to the contraction of Saint Nicholas into Santa Claus.

So if the day is really Holy--to be approached with faith and fear and love--there should be some time of preparation for such an auspicious event.   Society (understandably) and most churches have pretty much abandoned having any serious preparation but begin celebrating Christmas non stop the day after Thanksgiving. 

Think "Your Christmas station --WARM 103.3".

Before mechanized production took over the northern hemisphere there was a richness to liturgical life which permeated most of society.  Work slowed during fasting seasons because people were eating less and had less energy.   And work stopped altogether for the Feasts...which were so spectacular that their joy could not be confined to just one single day.

Think "The Twelve Days of Christmas"  (by the way, do the math:  it is a 12 factorial meaning that all the gifts of all the days add up to 364...but I digress)

Yes, Virigina, there really are 12 Days of Christmas (December 24 - January 5).

You'd never know it.

Even in far too many churches, especially those descended from Calvin and Zwingli....meaning 90% of American Protestantism.    Trees go up at Thankgiving, carols sung right away, and right after Christmas the decorations and music are put away for another year.

There was a lot of wisdom in those "Romanists" who created a calendar in which the Feast of Christmas was preceded by a time of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving which they called "Advent".   Some  of the common folk, realizing its similarity to the season preceding Easter, even called it "St. Martin's Lent".   There might not be a whole lot of fasting and praying beginning in mid November (the historic startof the Nativity Fast) but thank God for The Salvation Army ketttles  which appear right then to remind us about the almsgiving part!

And there was equal wisdom in spreading the celebration over 12 days; and, in some cultures, making the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6 the time for gift giving.    No "post Christmas let-down"--at least until the New Year.

But they even extended the time of feasting forward for a total of 40 days through February 2.   "Carnitas"---literally, "meat", from which we derive the word "Carnival".

Think Mardi Gras.

Post Christmas let-down doesn't hit until the residue of burnt palms hit you above the eyes on Ash Wednesday at the start of Lent.   And then it is time to be humbled.   High time.  (Low time?   How low can you go?)

So nowadays we have the veneer of the Christian calendar without a solid core, the shell without the substance.

And it is false and hollow to many people.

Some seek to evade it all.

I choose to be countercultural and embrace the time-proven patterns.

My thousands of outdoor Christmas lights will be run dusk to dawn through Twelfth Night, even though most of my neighbors have been extinguished.

My dozens of creches throughout the house will remain on display until the Feast of the Presentation ("Candlemass") on February 2.

Then the time fo the journey to Bethlehem will be passed, for another year.

Just in time to begin the journey to Jersualem, Golgotha, and Bethany.

I suppose I'm searching for Leipzig in the time of Bach or Constaniople in the time of Chrysostom.

It's not the destination--it's the journey that matters.


 

Tarnation wrote:

Conspiracy Theory wrote:

And, just like that, the holiday balloon pops. People are left flat. 

Ja.

A lot of the problem with "the holidays" is that our society has largely forgotten that "holiday" is a contraction or corruption of "Holy Day" , similar to the contraction of Saint Nicholas into Santa Claus.

So if the day is really Holy--to be approached with faith and fear and love--there should be some time of preparation for such an auspicious event.   Society (understandably) and most churches have pretty much abandoned having any serious preparation but begin celebrating Christmas non stop the day after Thanksgiving. 

Think "Your Christmas station --WARM 103.3".

Before mechanized production took over the northern hemisphere there was a richness to liturgical life which permeated most of society.  Work slowed during fasting seasons because people were eating less and had less energy.   And work stopped altogether for the Feasts...which were so spectacular that their joy could not be confined to just one single day.

Think "The Twelve Days of Christmas"  (by the way, do the math:  it is a 12 factorial meaning that all the gifts of all the days add up to 364...but I digress)

Yes, Virigina, there really are 12 Days of Christmas (December 24 - January 5).

You'd never know it.

Even in far too many churches, especially those descended from Calvin and Zwingli....meaning 90% of American Protestantism.    Trees go up at Thankgiving, carols sung right away, and right after Christmas the decorations and music are put away for another year.

There was a lot of wisdom in those "Romanists" who created a calendar in which the Feast of Christmas was preceded by a time of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving which they called "Advent".   Some  of the common folk, realizing its similarity to the season preceding Easter, even called it "St. Martin's Lent".   There might not be a whole lot of fasting and praying beginning in mid November (the historic startof the Nativity Fast) but thank God for The Salvation Army ketttles  which appear right then to remind us about the almsgiving part!

And there was equal wisdom in spreading the celebration over 12 days; and, in some cultures, making the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6 the time for gift giving.    No "post Christmas let-down"--at least until the New Year.

But they even extended the time of feasting forward for a total of 40 days through February 2.   "Carnitas"---literally, "meat", from which we derive the word "Carnival".

Think Mardi Gras.

Post Christmas let-down doesn't hit until the residue of burnt palms hit you above the eyes on Ash Wednesday at the start of Lent.   And then it is time to be humbled.   High time.  (Low time?   How low can you go?)

So nowadays we have the veneer of the Christian calendar without a solid core, the shell without the substance.

And it is false and hollow to many people.

Some seek to evade it all.

I choose to be countercultural and embrace the time-proven patterns.

My thousands of outdoor Christmas lights will be run dusk to dawn through Twelfth Night, even though most of my neighbors have been extinguished.

My dozens of creches throughout the house will remain on display until the Feast of the Presentation ("Candlemass") on February 2.

Then the time fo the journey to Bethlehem will be passed, for another year.

Just in time to begin the journey to Jersualem, Golgotha, and Bethany.

I suppose I'm searching for Leipzig in the time of Bach or Constaniople in the time of Chrysostom.

It's not the destination--it's the journey that matters.


 

Good post.

My grandparents emigrated from southern Italy early in the 20th century. 

Until the day she died at 84 years, my Grandmother's year followed the Liturgical Calendar. Her time was marked by a  succession of Holy days, Feast days, and faith.
The year had a comfortable, meaningful rhythm to it.
A connection.

She loved Christmas. But there was no frenzy to it. It was not granted the glitzy, and rather histrionic status afforded to the holiday by people who want to sell you stuff.
And no bubble popped, nor was there a let down feeling when it was over.
After Epiphany, the feast of San Sebastiniano was not long in coming. And so on.

Just sayin'

Last edited by Goose (1/04/2017 11:44 am)

Goose wrote:

Tarnation wrote:

Conspiracy Theory wrote:

And, just like that, the holiday balloon pops. People are left flat. 

Ja.

A lot of the problem with "the holidays" is that our society has largely forgotten that "holiday" is a contraction or corruption of "Holy Day" , similar to the contraction of Saint Nicholas into Santa Claus.

So if the day is really Holy--to be approached with faith and fear and love--there should be some time of preparation for such an auspicious event.   Society (understandably) and most churches have pretty much abandoned having any serious preparation but begin celebrating Christmas non stop the day after Thanksgiving. 

Think "Your Christmas station --WARM 103.3".

Before mechanized production took over the northern hemisphere there was a richness to liturgical life which permeated most of society.  Work slowed during fasting seasons because people were eating less and had less energy.   And work stopped altogether for the Feasts...which were so spectacular that their joy could not be confined to just one single day.

Think "The Twelve Days of Christmas"  (by the way, do the math:  it is a 12 factorial meaning that all the gifts of all the days add up to 364...but I digress)

Yes, Virigina, there really are 12 Days of Christmas (December 24 - January 5).

You'd never know it.

Even in far too many churches, especially those descended from Calvin and Zwingli....meaning 90% of American Protestantism.    Trees go up at Thankgiving, carols sung right away, and right after Christmas the decorations and music are put away for another year.

There was a lot of wisdom in those "Romanists" who created a calendar in which the Feast of Christmas was preceded by a time of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving which they called "Advent".   Some  of the common folk, realizing its similarity to the season preceding Easter, even called it "St. Martin's Lent".   There might not be a whole lot of fasting and praying beginning in mid November (the historic startof the Nativity Fast) but thank God for The Salvation Army ketttles  which appear right then to remind us about the almsgiving part!

And there was equal wisdom in spreading the celebration over 12 days; and, in some cultures, making the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6 the time for gift giving.    No "post Christmas let-down"--at least until the New Year.

But they even extended the time of feasting forward for a total of 40 days through February 2.   "Carnitas"---literally, "meat", from which we derive the word "Carnival".

Think Mardi Gras.

Post Christmas let-down doesn't hit until the residue of burnt palms hit you above the eyes on Ash Wednesday at the start of Lent.   And then it is time to be humbled.   High time.  (Low time?   How low can you go?)

So nowadays we have the veneer of the Christian calendar without a solid core, the shell without the substance.

And it is false and hollow to many people.

Some seek to evade it all.

I choose to be countercultural and embrace the time-proven patterns.

My thousands of outdoor Christmas lights will be run dusk to dawn through Twelfth Night, even though most of my neighbors have been extinguished.

My dozens of creches throughout the house will remain on display until the Feast of the Presentation ("Candlemass") on February 2.

Then the time fo the journey to Bethlehem will be passed, for another year.

Just in time to begin the journey to Jersualem, Golgotha, and Bethany.

I suppose I'm searching for Leipzig in the time of Bach or Constaniople in the time of Chrysostom.

It's not the destination--it's the journey that matters.


 

Good post.

My grandparents emigrated from southern Italy early in the 20th century. 

Until the day she died at 84 years, my Grandmother's year followed the Liturgical Calendar. Her time was marked by a  succession of Holy days, Feast days, and faith.
The year had a comfortable, meaningful rhythm to it.
A connection.

She loved Christmas. But there was no frenzy to it. It was not granted the glitzy, and rather histrionic status afforded to the holiday by people who want to sell you stuff.
And no bubble popped, nor was there a let down feeling when it was over.
After Epiphany, the feast of San Sebastiniano was not long in coming. And so on.

Just sayin'

Thanks for sharing this.  Fascinating story.

A couple of questions:

Is the 12 day period the same period that was referred to as Yule-Tide?

Does anyone else in the family celebrate the old holy-days?

 

Last edited by Conspiracy Theory (1/04/2017 5:50 pm)