Create Your Own Holiday Rituals
Whether traditional rituals provide you with the comfort of familiarity or turn you away with their formality, here are some more ways for your soul to celebrate.
By Victoria Moran and Elizabeth Cutting
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Celebrate the birthdays of various spiritual figures. If you want your children to get a sense of the oneness of religions, as well as the religious underpinnings of Christmas amid the commercial hoopla, celebrate the birthdays of several spiritual teachers throughout the year. That way, when Christmas comes, it will be another spiritual birthday.
Celebrate the solstice. The winter solstice is the planet's own holiday; it applies to all people and all life. You might spend the day preparing for winter in both realistic and ritualistic ways: stocking mason jars with grains and beans, laying an extra quilt at the foot of every bed, stocking up on firewood. An embrace beneath the mistletoe and the lighting of a Yule log are traditional solstice rituals. The pagans of pre-Christian Europe marked this seasonal shift by singing and dancing through the night until their reveling welcomed the sun. You might let your children stay awake—or try to—through this longest night of the year.
Observe Children's Day. The Shambhala (Tibetan Buddhist) community observes Children's Day on the winter solstice to celebrate the "royalty" inherent in every child. Symbolic figures of a king and queen are the focal points of the three-tier shrine that families construct for the holiday. Joining the dolls that become Royal Highnesses are "sense offerings" of a cloth ribbon (touch), fruits or sweets (taste), saffron water (smell), a conch or musical instrument (sound), and a small mirror (sight). Animal figures, handmade decorations, and special "treasures"—music boxes, streamers, flags—become a part of this symbolic replica of Heaven and Earth.
The night prior to the solstice, children put out food offerings and awaken to find baskets of gifts for all members of the family. On the day itself, children are treated like royalty and taken somewhere special. For more information, visit the Web site http://www.shambhala.org or contact your local Shambhala center—nonmembers are welcome to join in their Children's Day celebrations.
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