There is something special about this time of year. People alight their houses with cheerful dots of colored lights. The evergreens about town are adorned with bells and bows. People leave their houses in droves and mingle with each other in the shops and eateries. In some homes, soon after night fall, families come together in remembrance to light candles. People plan big meals that call family and friends, near and far, to join in celebration and reverence. Wreaths or boughs of Laurel are symbolically hung. There is the buzz of visitors, the warmth of gift giving, and if you are lucky, you may even hear a chorus of voices trailing through the streets.
What do you remember about Christmas as a child? What can you remember about the feeling of Christmas time? Do you find yourself striving to recreate the rituals and celebrations of Christmas’s past, or are you working to engender a new experience of this time of year for yourself and your family? I am guessing for most of us it is a bit of both.
I have initiated a parent group that meets one Saturday a month to talk about parenting and ways to bring Waldorf principals into our daily lives in support of our children. It seems that most parents are hungry for resources to guide us through the riches that River Song has awakened us to. As I strived to write a post about Christmas, I found myself digging through so many great books! So, here are three books that have inspired my search for meaning in this time of year. The first is a book that invites us, as adults, to explore the many layers of our Christmas time experience past present and future; the second, a book with deep spiritual roots; and the third with roots in nature and the seasons.
Six Ways to Celebrate Christmas and Celebrate You! by Lynn Jericho, is a sort of guidebook to lead you through many questions about your Christmas experiences, enlighten questions about the meaning of this time of year, and bring an understanding of the importance of celebrating Christmas regardless of religious or cultural background. “Christmas is the most complex time of year for our souls. Inwardly, we struggle with all kinds of feelings, intentions, capacities and limitations. The Christmas complexities and struggles show up in my soul as questions and reactions.” My favorite question that she poses at this point in the book is “How do I manage being Santa, Martha Stewart and the Virgin Mary all at once? And still be me?”
“We can renew the impulse to celebrate Christmas by contemplating the fact that, at every Christmas time, an eternal reality seeks to become a new event for mankind. Today we should bear in mind the fact that during these days a spiritual birth takes place in the soul of man. Preparing the house for Christmas should be a sign that we are prepared to give a space in us for Christmas. The fulfillment of this time is prepared through the celebration of Advent.
The days around the winter solstice, now the time in which we celebrate Christmas, had great importance in many pre-Christian religions. During this time the victory of light over darkness was celebrated, for example in the Egyptian, Teutonic, Jewish, Celtic, Roman, and Mithraic religions. It was only in the fourth century that Christmas began to be celebrated on December 25th. Until then the most important day of celebration was January 6, the day of the baptism of Jesus in Jordan, the day of Christ’s actual incarnation upon earth in Jesus.”
This comes from a book called Festivals With Children by Brigitte Barz. She goes on to talk about the archetypal meaning behind the figures in the manger scene, the history and significance of the Christmas tree, Father Christmas, and the twelve days of Christmas (or the twelve Holy Nights). This is a wonderful book that carries you through the deep spiritual significance of all the festivals throughout the year and offers ideas of how to bring these truths to children.
“ ‘King Winter rules throughout the land “with his bold, and mighty, frosty hand.’ Children benefit and appreciate festivals most when they are adapted to fit their natural surroundings. Now is a time to be mindful of the kingdoms of Nature. Are the stones and plants and animals asleep or awake? What is the mood of Nature? What are the elemental beings doing? How can we aid these fairies, elves, and gnomes on behalf of our dear Mother Earth?” (A Child’s Seasonal Treasury by Betty Jones)
This book truly is a treasury of activities, songs, and movement games to inspire actively celebrating the seasons with children. The following is a favorite little poem that brings such a cozy feeling, and always seems to get little hands and feet focused and ready for work as they act out the work of the Mouse:
The Kind Mousie
by Natalie Joan
There once was a cobbler and he was wee,
He lived in a hole in a very big tree.
He had a good neighbor and she was a mouse,
She did his wee washing and tidied his house.
Each morning at 7 he heard a wee tap,
And in came the mouse in her apron and cap.
She lit a small fire and she fetched a wee broom,
She swept and she polished his wee little room.
To take any wages she’d always refuse,
So the cobbler said “Thank You” and mended her shoes.
May your days be merry and bright!
