Practices From the Inside Out: The Holidays at the End of the Year

The Holidays at the End of the Year

It is happening again. The push is starting. Momentum is building. We are swept up into the holidays at the end of the year.

Many years are like this. We congratulate ourselves about making it to the end of the summer, and everything picks up steam.

We reach the top of the roller coaster around the end of September. Then we begin to race down through the holidays at the end of the year.

Some of us are already caught up in decorating and parties and eating. We believe we have survived the pandemic and are working our way toward getting “back to normal.”

Do we really want to go back to the way our holidays used to be? What if there were something better for us on this side of all the quarantining?

Our holidays tend to reflect the values of our culture. It is no surprise when all our holidays at the end of the year seem to celebrate consumption.

I believe we have opportunities to practice holidays in new ways this year.

The Holidays at the End of the Year: Halloween

The first holiday on our way down the roller coaster is Halloween.

The Halloweens I remember when I was younger were focused on acquiring and eating as much candy as possible. We wanted good costumes, but they were primarily tools for effective trick-or-treating.

It took me quite a few years to recognize and appreciate why Halloween was a holiday at all, other than the candy.

Each year, as daylight grows shorter and the harvest is completed, we take time to remember those who went before us. Halloween is an opportunity to pay attention to the people who helped shape our lives. It is a precursor to All Souls’ and All Saints’ days.

Even the symbols which have become familiar parts of our revelry had their origins in more spiritual practices.

This Halloween is an opportunity for us to remember the spiritual life which sparked our parties and collecting candy.

Halloween this year could be an excellent opportunity to discover and explore the power of its spiritual life.

The Holidays at the End of the Year: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has become for us a holiday without much significance. We often tend to speed through it without stopping.

Yes, we get together to eat a huge meal, which is often preparation for the pre-Black Friday sales events on Thursday evening. Some of us do take a few minutes of reflection while watching football before we begin our naps.

It can be easy for us to forget, or ignore, why Thanksgiving is a holiday at all.

We forget the survivors in Plymouth who were grateful they had made it through their first winter in America. It is easy for us to forget those who helped them.

Some of us forget, or ignore, the origins of the Thanksgiving declared by President Lincoln during the Civil War.

Surrounded by images of people without enough food all over the world, we focus our attention on being grateful for having so much. We ignore the vast amount of food waste created by our traditional Thanksgiving practices.

This Thanksgiving is an excellent opportunity for us to find ways to do more with less. We can take time to experience gratitude in the midst of comfort and plenty.

The Holidays at the End of the Year: Christmas

Racing down the incline, we come screaming into Christmas. Christmas is the winter holiday in my own tradition, and the one around which our culture rotates.

Christmas, again, has become an entire season dedicated to acquiring and consuming. It is the season most significant for our economy.

The stories and movies and music of Christmas have become intertwined with our culture, shaping our expectations.

We have lost sight of the spiritual life of Christmas as we have become focused on its trappings. The shining decorations distract us from what Christmas means.

Many of us become so busy with Christmas traditions we forget about the spiritual life of Christmas.

This Christmas is an opportunity for us to refocus ourselves. We can develop new practices which take the place of all the buying and the other distractions.

What does this holiday at the end of the year mean to us? How can we share the meaning of Christmas with others?

Are there ways we can remind ourselves and celebrate the more significant parts of Christmas this year?

Holidays at the End of the Year: New Year’s

Our roller coaster of holidays comes to a stop at the end of the year.

New Year’s is another holiday which is almost synonymous with consumption.

There have been years when I have celebrated surviving to see another year. I enjoy a good party, and live in a place where New Year’s is a particularly significant day.

I believe, though, one of the primary aspects of New Year’s is the way it helps us prepare for the year to come.

New Year’s is the holiday at the end of the year which is usually the best opportunity to review where we have been and reflect. It can be a time for us to remember and spend time contemplating where we are drawn to go next.

Many of us have some time after all the other holidays to sit still and consider how we are living our ives. We can listen to the wisdom in the stillness around us and within us.

All These Holidays at the End of the Year

The holidays at the end of the year are not tests for us to pass, not obstacles for us to overcome.

Our culture tends to lump them all together and race through them like a roller coaster car.

Each one can be its own unique opportunity for our reflection.

How can we prepare to practice the holidays at the end of the year in new ways this year?

When will we begin to celebrate the holidays at the end of the year?

[Image by Diluted]

Greg Richardson is a spiritual director in Southern California. He is a recovering assistant district attorney and associate university professor, and is a lay Oblate with New Camaldoli Hermitage near Big Sur, California. Greg’s website is StrategicMonk.com and his email address is [email protected].