My OperaThe Dao and the winter holiday season
Sunday, December 20, 2009 8:55:50 PM
Every year someone will ask how daoism can reconcile with the 'western' holiday season, especially religious holidays such as christmas, this blog post is simply my take on the winter holidays and dao
Th festival our family celebrates is that of yuletide, which in contemporary society is an almost secular celebration of nature, family, people, love, light and life. Its origins are from the winter solstice which is simply the time of the year, in this case the northern hemisphere, which marks the shortest day and longest night of the year, the celebration which followed, in the various cultures came to represent marking the cycles of nature, the beginning of the wheel turning towards spring and life and the sun.
Of course christmas is a christian festival and it is Christmas which is the accepted winter holiday name, but what is christmas in contemporary times but a celebration of nature, family, people, love, light and life, that for christians it is also a celebration of the advent of Jesus whose life represents a re-birth for humanity is also not so opposed to the general principles other winter festivals celebrate.
How does Dao fit into my holiday?
The yi jing in all 64 guas explains, explores and illustrates the principles of change within nature and the universe, the winter solstice is the epitomy example of the cyclic nature of change. The yi jing as well as the tao te ching and other daoist works speak of the ideal principles of expression, such as compassion, moderation and humility ... as well as showing appreciation to those around us, to show people they are loved and that they matter in this life ... this is congruent with both yule and christmas, and other winter festivals also.
This isn't about giving expensive gifts, or buying expensive decorations, this year we are giving most of our increasingly large family home made gifts, food mainly, as a symbol of our appreciation for them. It is about the gift of giving of yourself without expectation or desire for reward, of enjoying the experience and time with family and friends, with loved ones.
I have a friend who volunteers at the local homeless shelter and provides the vegetarian christmas foods for that, which is hosted in the city's cathedral every xmas day, she isn't Christian but attends every year with a multitude of people of all faiths and no faith; she often says it is one of the highlights of her year to see people coming together in a selfless act of giving to each other.
it is in these ways that for me dao is expressed at the winter holiday time, whatever name we choose to give our holiday celebrations. For what is a dao cultivator but someone who, ideally and to paraphrase from Dickens, holds the spirits of Christmas in their heart and soul all year around?
A couple of quotes from A Christmas Carol that i think really epitomise the winter festivals and daoist principles to boot
"There are some upon this earth of yours," returned the Spirit, "who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all out kith and kin, as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us."
- A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
"And it was a very uncommon kind of torch, for once or twice when there were angry words between some dinner-carriers who had jostled each other, he shed a few drops of water on them from it, and their good humour was restored directly. For they said, it was a shame to quarrel upon Christmas Day. And so it was! God love it, so it was!"
- A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
And of course to the dao cultivator it is an ideal, if not always possible in that moment, for it to be a shame to quarrel on any day.
"It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good-humour."
- A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
And so it is i will say the winter festivals are indeed very 'dao', or so i have found, whether one views it a secular or religious, and so in the slightly altered words of that wonderful poem the 'night before christmas', Merry winter festival to all and to all a goodnight
beccaxx
Claudette claudette.bb # Wednesday, March 31, 2010 7:21:20 AM
Becca JamesMunchkin97 # Thursday, May 27, 2010 2:49:12 AM
i have bene shockingly lapse in updating this page of late, but aim to change that as much as possible.
hope you are well
becksxx
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