Happy Holy Days

Sunset on the Solstice. Pierre, SD. 12/21/21

For me, the time between Solstice and New Year’s is a time to reflect upon the past year and plan for the new. This period of about 10 days feels separate from the regular hum of everyday life. The separateness gives it a sacred feeling. These, to me, are the holy days aka the holidays. 

I am feeling my way forward in how to observe the holidays in a way that is enriching to the soul, the Earth and other people. I do observe Christmas and I celebrate with lights, music, presents, gathering with family, and feasting types of food.  These celebratory acts feel old to me, older than the birth of the Messiah, even. But I feel and have felt for a while there is more to the holidays.

I found wisdom and good suggestions for practices to observe this holiday time in an article by Sarah Sunshine Manning, the communications director for NDN Collective.

Before I go any further and link you to the article, I want to say I try to be considerate when sharing something with its roots in the Indigenous community as I am not Indigenous, not even a tiny bit. I received this teaching as a gift and I encourage you to do the same. And when I say I received it as a gift, I mean exactly that. Gifts do not always fit or may not be to our specific taste, but we recognize the generous intention behind them and show gratitude for that, if nothing else. It is my hope that this gift of a teaching will activate your own generosity to reciprocate, perhaps directly with a donation to NDN collective or another Indigneous organization, perhaps with an act of grace and kindness to a person, or a prayer if that's how you roll.

I admit getting into the gratitude mindset can be a challenge. We have access to and consume so much “how to” or “self-improvement” that it’s easy to become overstuffed and dulled emotionally and even spiritually. So pause for a moment, take a breath, and reorient your emotional aspect to one of thoughtful curiosity about and gratitude for a gift.

Good? Ok. 

Now you can read the article.

The fourteen (14!) practices in the article are not meant to be done all on the Solstice. Rather they are ideas to help people—specifically Indigenous folks but also  the rest of us who are trying to live according to the rhythms and teachings of the Earth—to observe intentionally. Pick one or two, whichever ones are most meaningful to you, and do those.

Even over the course of a week to ten days, fitting in all 14 ideas would feel (to me, at least) more like checking off a to-do list rather than pushing the pause button on everyday life to make time for holiday observances. What I suggest is that you sit with a cuppa as it was called in my household growing up and read through this list carefully. Think about the time available to you and note what is calling to you. Write down the practices or maybe other ones that come to mind and as best as your life allows, make space between now and sometime near the beginning of the year (January 6th if you get a late start) to observe the holidays. 

I wish you a restful, restorative holiday season.