Where does the year begin, where does it end? (To butcher a line by Mary Oliver.)
Different cultures celebrate the new year at different times in the Gregorian calendar year. The Christian liturgical year begins in early December with the season of Advent. Chinese New Year is celebrated in late January or February, Rosh Hashanah in the fall, and the neo-pagan Samhain around November 1. Those are just a few of the celebrations going on around the world during any given year. (Read about these and more at Wikipedia.) Then there's the July-June fiscal year, used by government and many businesses in the US.
For many years my new year was marked at the beginning of the Fall semester. I went straight from graduate school to the classroom and stayed there for 30 years, so I spent almost 50 years in that August/September to June rhythm. A new year's celebration for me was a visit (or several) to the office supply store. New pencils and pens, notebooks and binders, academic calendars, crayons, and, ooh, that yummy white paper with the blue lines, just waiting for new words. As a student, I was going to do better each year. As a teacher, I started anew with the latest techniques. Always, though, the new year was about hope.
Today, on New Year's Eve, we sat around and talked about how stressful 2010 has been, and hoped that 2011 will be better. Surely the economy will improve...we'll finally see peace in the world...
Sometimes I wonder if we shouldn't celebrate New Year's Day every morning. Toss out the old day, begin again. Let the winds of change have their way with us. But let them always blow hope into our mornings.
What does the new year mean for you?
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January Member Event
1 week ago
I like this comment on the New Year. To me, a New Year is full of meaning -- going back to when my mother believed the Christmas tree should never be up past Jan. 1. We now are more lax about such things. A new year offers so many opportunities to begin and to expect the unexpected, which come as blessing or challenge. Thanks for your views.
ReplyDeleteMy mother had the same conviction. Something about bad luck, but I suspect it had more to do with fear of the tree drying out and catching fire.
ReplyDelete"Expect the unexpected"--scary and exciting at the same time...
That is so funny that you all would be talking about taking the tree down, when I just blogged that I plan to leave mine up indefinitely....it is continuing to stay so fresh.....I feel so "edgy" doing so, and you both just let me know why....I am "suppose" to take it down!!, and I am choosing to "leave it up"!! What a rebel I am this beginning of 2011!!!
ReplyDeleteIn the dark of still winter here in the north (grey skies lately making it dark even during the day), I really like the little lights on the tree. Today, though, I took off the candy canes and the beaded garlands. Maybe tomorrow I'll take down some of the ornaments, but I think I might leave the lights and the tree up for a while. If my husband gets inspired to take down the tree, I might find a way to put the lights up somewhere still. Until spring, maybe.
ReplyDeleteSo here's to rebelling for 2011 in any way we can! Listening to our hearts, our needs, ourselves.
And thanks for all the new year references, Ellen! I like to learn...
hugs to you,
Nessa
We keep our decorations up until January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany, or 12th Night. I think the church blesses them until then, and after that, you're on your own. (Kidding, of course.)
ReplyDelete