As the temperatures in my region start to drop, I am drawn back to the calendar and the seasons of the year after my summer siesta. In most religious traditions the fall, winter, and spring seem to hold more holidays than the summer, or perhaps the summer ones have just been forgotten and eroded away, much like other religious holidays are starting to experience. Personally, I find the calendar can affect my feelings and attitudes on a given day. Take for example Friday, who does not look forward to a weekend break? Or on Sunday evening, or Monday morning, who does not dread the coming week of work, schedules, meetings and appointments. As we hit this mid season lull, who is not looking forward to national holidays such as Thanksgiving or ahead to Hanukkah, Christmas, New Years, or other festivities? We look forward to evenings, weekends, and holidays because they are different from our day-to-day routines, they disrupt the humdrum to bring us excitement through bazaars, pageants, dinners with family and friends, and gifts.
Holiday days, were traditionally holy days, and were days set aside for religious observances, sometimes suspending work, but not always. They were however noted as special, as sacred, instead of normal. This specialness, or sacredness is what gives our days meaning, and by extension our lives meaning. Today, I am reminded as I pull out my wool socks and hats that not only is this the season of autumn, but the harvest season of pumpkins and other root vegetables to nourish the body, the experience of changing leave colours and the beauty of creation to sustain us in this coming winter. While we start to lose daylight and other things that we have taken for granted the time is coming to shed our old ways and prepare for new ways with the season of Advent (the season of preparation) around the corner, and to focus in on the important essentials in our lives as the season of abundance starts to pass.