WAKE UP PEOPLE
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LET THERE
BE LIGHT
by Janice Okoomian
Here in the Northern Hemisphere, daylight hours wane as we approach the shortest day of the year. This annual phenomenon of the winter solstice has found its way into world's religions. Underneath the differences in practice and belief of this season's holidays resides a deep, common hope that light will return.
Some, like Zoroastrians, the Hopi, and neopagans, celebrate the Winter Solstice itself.
Some religions celebrate the return of the light metaphorically. In Christmas, it's the Star of Bethlehem, and the birth of new hope for world peace in the form of a baby. In Chanukah, it's the miracle of the oil that keeps the flame alive long after tht oil should have been depleted.
Still others celebrations of this season are not rooted in the Winter Solstice, but share the theme of the light of knowledge and truth. Muslims celebrate the revelation of the Qura'n during the lunar month of Rmamdan. The Buddha achieved enlightenment in December.
BE THE LIGHT
Do less, experience more. "Simplify, simplify!" said Thoreau, and many of us need to heed his advice. If the holiday season is so packed with activities and tasks that it overwhelms and exhausts you, then simplify, simplify.
Here are two simple rituals that can help remind you that singly and together, we are the light.
1. On a clear night, bundle up if it's cold, find a dark field, and go out with friends or family to look at the stars. Stand together in silence and think your thoughts. Then go back inside and bring the light with you by lighting a candle. This ritual takes no preparation and can be spontaneious or can be folded into your holiday celebration.
2. At night, in your home, arrange several candles in candleholders, gather a group of family or friends together, seat everyone comfortably, and turn out the lights. (Make sure you have a book of matches in your hand). Sing together in the dark - holiday songs or any songs about light. After you finish the first song, light a candle, and begin a second song. LIght a candle after you sing each song, until you are surrounded by the glow.
Rituals should be like water: both fluid and sustaining. They are fluid when we continually reshape them so that they do not become stagnant. They are sustaining when we practice them mindfully. They help us to acknowledge, accept, or embrace change and transition. Good ritual practice is good for you.
RitualWorks
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Janice Okoomian, Ph.D., Ritual Artist
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LIGHTING UP THE HOLIDAYS
The December holidays can be a particularly difficult time for those who have recently lost a loved one. It may help to view this as a time to be thankful for those loving souls who no longer sit with us at the table, but still bring light to our lives. We can choose to acknowledge their spiritual presence by lighting the first candles of the season in their memory.
It may also help to create a written piece about past loved ones that can be reread in remembrance during the holidays, perhaps even as candles are lit. What follows is an example...
Written September 16, 2001
Published November 21, 2009
in memory of Ed
CANDLES
First, I need to light a candle for my brother-in-law, Edward Straub, who is still missing. We still hang on to hope, knowing that he made it outside of Tower 2 just as the second plane hit the building. From the few clues we have, I am certain that Ed was the last one out of his offices on the 102nd floor as he firmly, but calmly, assured that everyone else was on their way down. He was in charge, and that was Ed. Second, I light a candle for my dear sister Sandy, who is waiting...waiting for news of him at home. As a couple, they have been through a lot together, and I’ve always admired them for the strength of their love. Ed was a great Dad, and I light a candle for Ed’s four sons. Two of them are terrific grown-up adults, one waiting at I light a candle for Ed’s parents, up in Williamstown, Mass, absolutely beside themselves and unable to leave their house because of this. I light a special candle for Ed’s brother, Stan, who is a Deacon up in I light candles for all of my own family. We’ve pretty much overwhelmed my sister with hope, love and support, as we share her pain over the disappearance of Ed. Two of my brothers, the first to arrive at I light candles for I light candles for my immediate family here in I light candles for all the brave selfless members of the rescue squad, those who perished, their loved ones, and those who continue to dig through the smoldering rubble, searching for Ed and so many others. I light candles for people like our cousin Paola, a first grade teacher in Brooklyn, who watched it happen from the schoolyard, who when class for cancelled got busy cooking food for the rescue workers. People are jumping in to help with the effort, wherever and however they can. I’d light well over a million candles, if I could, for all the families in our country and beyond, whose lives have been forever altered by this unspeakable, insufferable, insensitive act. So many candles make for an unbelievable amount of light. Tragically, we have all been united. I hope that with this light we can still find some miracles, and I hope that somehow, some way, we can find our way to PEACE. Thank you for all your prayers. Keep them coming. Let’s light more candles.
-- Wendy
