This year I decided to take it easy and enjoy the holidays even more. No Christmas tree, few gifts and New years weekend in nature instead of in a club.
The traditions of putting up the Christmas tree on the 24th of December (baby Jesus' birth) and taking it down on the 6th of January (Epiphany) have been replaced by shopping till you drop and regretting all the food and alcohol consumed.
Old traditions are transformed to meet today's need. In Spain for example, it is tradition to eat 12 grapes at each stroke of the clock at midnight on New Years. Its quite funny because you are expected to have finished all the grapes by the 12th stroke...pretty much impossible and quite comical!
There are various speculations as to where this tradition came from. Some say that one year there was a very good harvest of grapes and the king decided to give the people some to celebrate. Others claim that a mayor of Madrid once put a fee on being able to visit a holy site in the city and some farmers decided to make fun of this elitist law by stuffing their faces with grapes.
In NYC, people (mostly tourists) wait all day at Times Square to watch the ball drop; freezing cold all for just a couple of seconds. Auld Lang Syne is a song that is sung at this time of the year and asks whether old friends and times will be forgotten and promises to remember people of the past with fondness.
Whether you celebrate these holidays or others, it is important to remember that they come from somewhere. In fact, before the rise of Christianity, the New Year usually took place on the first day of Spring which makes sense since it is a time of rebirth and growth. Also we must not forget that many other cultures around the world do not celebrate the new year at the same time we do.
Love, health and happiness for 2010!
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