The Unnoticed Symbolism in Our Calendar's Year End Arc.

A brief thought on yet another ending cycle.

We of the Gregorian calendar fandom in the U.S. are wrapping up the last, and most important, of the year’s arcs.  It starts, as all things do, with death. Halloween is a celebration of the Past draped in a white sheet with two holes for eyes. The ghosts, ghouls and preternatural fixings are players acting as a signpost guiding us in a single direction: that which came before. In other words, it’s a holiday for resurrecting our individual and collective memories.

As the shadows of night fade into the East of morning, so too can our sight of the Past and of its lessons. Take notes. The Past is wasted upon ghosts, yet it springs to life in our service when carried into the Present. Arms now full, we rest briefly upon the crossroads of Thanksgiving. Here we celebrate the offspring of Knowledge (past) and Effort (present): The Harvest. And celebrate we should, as sometimes the Cornucopia yields only bitter lessons to fill our aching stomachs. But don’t lose hope. Those years that come to us all. Remember: lessons put our individual or collective memory blossom into the gift of new Knowledge. A wonderful feast, indeed.

Speaking of gifts, here comes Christmas faster than a speeding planogram. Jests aside, Christmas is a celebration of altruism, made possible after we Harvest environments stable enough to allow us non-survival seconds in which to ponder non-self depths. We’re encouraged to be better humans, and ponder what the world could be, might be if that pursuit, no matter how small, was the year-round norm. And that, kids, is the true meaning of Christmas: it is all about the future. Gifts are carried into the future. Acts of kindness are carried into the future. A warm greeting is carried into the future. Goodwill is carried into the future. Our own journey is a path only ever found under steps yet to fall.    

Past, Present, and Future arcing just in time to turn the page to whatever cute chicken or posed pile of puppies adorns a fresh calendar’s January. Muscle, Mind, and Vision symbolically prompted into resolutions as a starting gun is about to fire. Coincidence? Jung may have a thought or two on that while burping Baby New Year. Holidays, stories, and myths are old, remember. Terribly old. Yet, here they are, like gravity’s anchor, and they will continue to both cause and play in our mental tidepools. They exist for practical reasons, after all. It’s been said stories and myths are the mind exploring the world. I like that. I really dig the follow up: stories and myths are the mind exploring itself. Creator and Creation dressed as the other for the local Chicken and Egg Convention. They are us, after all.

Let’s wrap this up, gentle reader. ‘Brief’ was my second word.

Know your Past. Act upon your Present. Be a gift to your Future. It’s right here in the manual, unless I am missing something.

Be well. Happy New Year.

Sam