Someone once said that life is like a web, each of us holding a thread and weaving the story of the world. Each new generation picks up the weft and begins their own pattern. Though unrecognizable at first, as you step back and look closely you'll find the tapestry still has remnants of what came before. So are the stories and legends and traditions we know today. So, especially, are the stories and traditions of Christmas.
No one knows for certain how this particular part of life's tapestry began but there are threads that seem to go back thousands of years. There are some who would say that only the part they weave has any merit or beauty and so discount the rest, missing, I believe the beauty and richness of the whole.
I, for one, love each magical, sparkling moment - each jingle bell and ho-ho-ho; each ave maria and silent night. The secular, the pagan, the Christian - each thread to me hardly cancels out the other, but again just shows what vast richness and depth this tapestry holds.
And so in these pages, I'll step back and look at the threads that came before and how they've shaped the traditions of today. I'll share with you some of my favorite music, stories, poetry and images of the season. And I'll recount one of the most beautiful stories ever told, about the birth of a child of God who grew to teach the world to love one another.
Some of you will only find merit and beauty in the customs and images of your faith and culture. Still others will believe parts are of the Devil himself (sigh....please see my Samhain/Halloween pages for my feelings about that). Hopefully most of you will see that at the core of all is light and peace, joy and goodwill toward each other, magic and wonder...and above all else, love. For me, the real 'reason for the season', for any season, is the love that is at the heart of all beautiful works of art, like this magnificent tapestry we weave called life.
It is in that spirit of peace and joy and love that I share with you my Holiday Pages.
Winter Solstice/ Yule
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