It's that time of year. But really, we build celebrations into the fabric of our culture to break up the monotony of the mundane at regular intervals throughout the year. That is, I believe, the underlying purpose of celebrations. You've got your birthdays, anniversaries,
community festivals, various national days of remembrance for one thing or another, and the always popular religious holidays.
Then there are the parties, which I suppose fit into this category as well.
Is it important to take part in celebrations? What celebrations are most important to you? Why? Why do you celebrate the things that you do?
This is open-thread, folks. I am genuinely curious about why people do these things. I have a few poorly-formed thoughts on this subject myself, and may share them in a later post if I can get them to coalesce well enough to stay put. Perhaps your answers may help.
11 comments:
Hmmmm interesting. I know in my family we celebrate and have for years....I mean since I can ever remember..since the age of 6 and I am now 48.....on Thanksgiving the entire family gets together over at my one sister's home for dinner and to visit. Why do I go? Why do I do this? It is nice to see everyone.....though this year it might be different for me since they all now pretty much know about me being gay and that I am with Paul so that should be interesting...to say the least. Then on Christmas Eve we do the same thing we always meet at 7pm (same sister's home) have dinner, then open presents we have brought for each other. I enjoy the Thanksgiving but the Christmas Eve nite is really exciting because the presents are not passed out one at a time...they just keep getting passed out one after another and the wrapping paper goes flying through the air as the kids rip into their gifts. It's really fun to watch. lol When I lived in CA for ten years I did other sorts of things. Like on Thanksgiving a bunch of us would get together for dinner at a really nice resturant one of those you need to get a reservation for....then after eating we would all go out to see the new movies. I mean we would go to like three different movies ...all day long....then after the last movie find a place that was still open and have some pie. That was fun too. I always did miss the family meetings back in MI though. I am not sure this is what you wanted. lol But it has brought up memories for me and also reminds me that I need to get the stuff to make "chocolate covered peanut butter balls" thats another tradition that I take those on Christmas Eve as presents. lol
Buckeyes! I love buckeyes, they always remind me of the Christmas season.
You know, I was thinking along these same lines recently when I went to the baby shower of a schoolmate/work supervisor. Some celebrations just seem gratuitous, but I really enjoyed and have fond memories of the family/friend get-togethers that my family did when I was young, either with out of state relatives whom I rarely saw other than holidays, or with friends who lived too far away for frequent visits to be practical.
I may not understand the proliferation of festivals (really, why do we need one dedicated to CATFISH!?), and my roomie may not 'get' gay pride parades though she supports me. I think you got it at least partially right; they're a way to break up the seasons, the year. Some even have roots as markers in the agricultural calendar.
I celebrate because I can.
I don't really get into a whole lot of celebrations. Most (all?) of the holidays are so commercialized that they've lost their meaning.
As for birthdays, I'm not vain enough to care about my own birthday. I would never throw myself a bday party (that has to be the height of egocentrism), although I love celebrating the birthdays of my friends.
I think the best celebrations are the ones that come about for unexpected reasons, like if you win a contest or a competition.
We're pretty low key here for celebrating. I guess the big one is Christmas. We always make sure we have the Christmas rituals, gifts under the tree in the morning, new PJs Christmas eve, opening the gifts then having a big breakfast. We always made it about the kids, Derwood and I, so much so that the kids believed in Santa until they were 14 and 12! No kidding! We were hardcore about making it magical, although when I say we I mostly mean me because I had so many traumatic Christmases as a kid, it was the only way to heal it for me. But that's a whole other issue.
We always go to the Christmas concert or Band concert that our kids are in.
About this time every year, we all decide on a good day to get the family together, this year it's Boxing Day and we will all gather at Dad's house and have a huge meal and exchange a few gifts in a fun exchange. Mostly it's about spending that one day together, all 35 of us...
When I was younger I put more emphasis on the significance of holidays. I fretted about them often as well, if I had no plans on New Years or no one to be romantic with for Valentines Day.
Now I don't obsess as much. I have certain holiday where routines have set in and I find comfort there.
I think holidays existed originally to mark the passage of time and to help perpetuate rituals that people decided were important to maintain.
Of all the commercial celebrations, I think Thanksgiving is probably the one I like to celebrate the most. Food, friends and booze - what could be better? Oh yeah sex, but who wants to do it on a full stomach anyway? LOL
Christmas can suck it, as well as New Year's Eve and Valentine's.
We are hardwired to be in need of ritual to celebrate the passing of time, good and bad. Celebrating seasons and holidays etc. is vital to our psyches.
so keep doing so!
I never had a birthday party as a child so I got into to habit of having low key birthday celebrations as an adult. My partner gave me a really wonderful surprise birthday party one year and I was so uncomfortable being the center of attention that I wanted to run out the door. Now that I’m in my fifties birthdays are not important at all.
When I lived in Dallas I looked forward to the national holidays because I could stay out all night on Saturday and Sunday jacked up on drugs and still have Monday to recover. Thankfully, those days are a fading memory.
The only celebration I look forward to each year is gay pride. I love seeing to LGBT community come together to celebrate the accomplishments of the last thirty years.
Even though I enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas I think they cause me more angst than they are worth.
I'm not one for crowds, so all those "parties" to which you linked are more fun from the keyboard. But I do love to get together with friends and family for any excuse.
My family has started a new tradition, courtesy of my husband and brother. Everyone who can goes to St. Louis (my brother's house) for the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. With their five kids and numerous add-ons, it's chaos; but it's the best kind of chaos, mostly just hanging around the house chatting, playing board games and messing with the grown-ups' heads. Good times.
As you know, celebrations, rituals, and why we need them has been a subject for much musing on my part. While most Quakers now celebrate holidays, there are still remnants of the tradition that eschewed such things, believing that specifying one day as more holy than another was a mistake. I'm definitely still wary of putting too much emphasis on THINGS, but any excuse for a celebration, even if it's just getting together with a friend I haven't seen in a while, is nice. Something as simple as a glass of wine immediately changes the energy of the situation; we're slowing down, taking each other in, recognizing how lucky we are to love and be loved. Food has always been central to my family's celebrations, and just having a great meal is often an event in and of itself. Basically I'm coming to see that relationships with other people may be the only thing that really matters, and holidays are a good excuse to remember that. I love'em all; Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays, I think there is something at the core always worth reconnecting with.
In Spain, there are more little festivals than you can shake a stick at. Every town & village has several throughout the year, and everyone turns out for them.
In fact, shaking a stick is probably one featured activity in some festivals. The little town of Salobrena brings in a wooden Mary by boat, and then hauls her up to the Catholic church. Everyone shouts & celebrates.
The main thing that I need to keep in mind is that holidays & celebrations are about the fellowship. When I get caught up in frustrations over crowds, shopping, baking, decorating and the like, I'm missing the point.
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