On Holiday(s)

Here I am, three thousand miles away from home -- if my latest address is home, which I sometimes doubt -- in grey weather, cold too, trying to get the time change behind me and start soaking up the holiday spirit. The spouse and I are sitting in the hotel lobby, both working away on our computers. In a little while I'll get myself in gear and head off to do some errands.

So this is "holiday time." The candelabra in the breakfast room all contain 7 "candles" -- is that just to distinguish themselves from Hanukkah lights or because 7 simply comes out as the most symmetrical and elegant number of light elements? In any case, the real candle on the breakfast table, surrounded by evergreen branches and gilded pinecones, is "ecumenical" in that its appeal pre-dates Christianity by quite a space of time.

Yule, like the summer solstice, is above all a festival of light and fire. When I was packing on Monday, I dug out my velvet ritual bag (which I've had for about 15 years now -- red, with a symbol that combines the pentacle and the sign for female (or the planet Venus. Not that I think "men are from Mars, women are from..." -- facile and over-generalizing, always a dangerous combination). There were two considerations: weight of the luggage and what was most appropriate to the season. Yule, a fire festival. So I put in my tiny brass burner, two little cones of Yule incense from one of my favorite providers, and incense matches in frankincense, sandalwood, and bayberry to honor the time (and patchouli just because I like it). Compass and bloodstone pendulum. Tiny travel candle (in a tin). And that's it.

The colors for Yule are just as pre-Christian as the candle/taper/light and the evergreens. Red and green: red for fire, green for growth and manifestation. Fire to keep us warm, sun-fire to invite the sun closer again, green as a sign of our hope and belief that new shoots, new leaves, new crops will once more come in time.

Tomorrow we're going to the "sacred night market" -- the Christmas market, but I just gave you the literal translation of the German word for it, "Weihnachtsmarkt." I look forward to the spiced wine, the traditional holiday edibles like "Lebkuchen" ("the cake of life"), and the many beautiful, and even the tacky, things that will be offered for sale at the myriad outdoor stalls. Northern Europeans are hardy folk, neither the buyers nor the sellers jib at spending long hours in near-freezing temperatures to seek or purvey the perfect holiday gift, treat or decor. More when we return!