Borrowing from our past generations, fall is the time to celebrate. It is also the close of the natural cycle of the year. Since most societies were and many still must be agriculturally oriented, fall is when it is time to rest, spill the blood from your overworked hands on to the fence post, and send praises heavenward that there will be enough money to last for one whole year. Along with thanksgiving and alms (for those who are not so lucky, and some say, didn’t work so hard), our ancestors and we too celebrate. We are happy to go inside for the daylight is waning and we need to dress our digs for the winter. We take some of our celebration outside for a festival and some seasonal fun too. Today, we will spend some time indoors and then talk about those celebrations.
Home is the heart of life…it is where we feel comfortable, where we belong, where we create our own surroundings that reflect our tastes and pleasures…making a home is a form of creativity that is open to everyone and it is important…going home is everyone’s goal EVERY DAY!--Conran
Our house is our haven, our protection, our shield from the world but it can become even more than that; it can become our sanctuary, our blessed place where we recreate ourselves to better prepare to face the world outside. The excellence of this place causes the place to be in good condition and perform its function well. That is Aristotle’s Golden Mean and it applies to all that we own and do and think. This ratio lies between excess and deficiency; it is neither too little nor too much. It is the key to our success in our home and our relationships, job, indeed in all that we do. At home, though, the first thing we need to do is look around and ask, as we touch or see EVERY OBJECT in the room, “Do I truly LOVE this thing or is it USEFUL?” If so, that thing stays, if not, it is OUT THE DOOR!!! In other words, fall is the best time to…CLEAN UP THE CLUTTER!!!
So though you need to do this with every room in your home, deal with only one room at a time. No sense trying to eat the whole sandwich in one bite! Take a look at that room and presume it is a blank canvas and you are painting a beautiful, warm picture to escape the cold winds of the outdoors. You need:
- A FOCAL POINT: There should only be one: television, fireplace, view out the window? Choose!
- LINE: Provide relief from the horizontal/vertical.
- SHAPE/FORM: Make them interesting…variety is key, but not too much please.
- COLOR: Complementary please…red/green, blue/orange, yellow/purple
- TEXTURE: THREE is the Key
- VALUE: Some dark and light please—change it up!
- REPETITION: Our eyes like to know what is coming. Keith Richards said, “When you know where the beat is going to land, you can step on it. Check out buildings!!!
- BALANCE: It is all about arching…a heavy piece on one wall demands weight on the opposite wall.
- CONTRAST : Squiggles demand straight.
And something quirky or weird in there someplace. Putting it all together, remember:
- Light ( lamps) at three levels
- Pillows
- A warm colored throw
- THE POWER OF THREE
- Something natural
- Something glitzy
- Area rugs (not placemats)
- Candles
Create arches, branches, forks, vicissitudes and dichotomies!!
LIFE IS A CELEBRATION
USUALLY, celebrations depend upon women. We are the memory keepers, the cooks, the bakers, the nurturers, the idea people, the dressers of the tables and walls, the singers, the processors (sacred walkers) and we keep the traditions. We are the dancers, the ritual makers, the ones who demand ritual because things that go unnoticed will eventually be devalued.
We humans need celebration. We need to reach for heaven on earth occasionally; it provides a relief from drudgery and the day to day routine and gives us a fresh outlook. Ever noticed how people feel when they really dance hard at a wedding?
SO…Here are some reasons and ways to celebrate September, October and November
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September
- 8-Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary celebrated by Christians as a day of love and a sign of devotion to St. Anne, her mother. St. Anne is considered by many to be the Anna, Ana, Hannah, Anne, Anat, Anantha, Asherah, Anu, and Nana, or the grandmother of time
- 17-Citizenship Day-U.S. Constitution signed in l787
- 21-Autumnal Equinox-Day and night are once again exactly equal in length; nature comes into balance. Their precise balance is reflected in the theme of justice associated with this season. Libra is the astrological sign
- 29-St. Michael’s Day (Michaelmas) Get berries into your home (Bre’r Rabbit). This was the day that Michael whose name means “Who is like God” cast out the dragon (devil). He achieved balance and holds a scale and a sword . It is a day of renewal, signing your lease and the day that England universities begin. Most people light a candle (the flame is Michael’s sword) to him and cook a goose. That guarantees one will never be hungry and has Asian implications too.
October
- 2-Old Man’s Day12-Columbus Day-Columbus landed in the Bahamas (discovering America!!!)
- 18-St. Luke’s Day-patron saint or unmarried women and artists. The biblical Luke was a physician.
- On this day, unmarried women who are looking for a man, might say,
- “St. Luke, St. Luke, be kind to me, In dreams let me my true love see.”
- 23-St. John’s Day; swallows return to the South from Capistrano
- 25-St. Crispin’s Day, patron saint of leather workers
- 31-All Hallow’s Eve
November
- 1- All Saints Day
- 2-All Soul’s Day-Day of the Dead
- 5-Guy Fawkes Night-time for bone fires remembering the traitor who tried to assassinate James I at the House of Parliament. “Gunpowder, treason and plot…There is absolutely no reason this horror should ever be forgot.
- 11-Martinmas-St. Martin’s Day--EAT BEEF –this was the day to slaughter your cattle.
- Thanksgiving-last Thursday of November changed to that time by FDR to allow more shopping days before Christmas thereby improving the economy.
- Thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us,
- Thanks to the rivers and streams and their water, Thanks to the corn and grainfields that feed us,
- Thanks to the herbs which protect us from illness,Thanks to the wind and the rain for their cleansing,
- Thanks to the bushes and trees for their fruiting,Thanks to the moon and the stars for their lighting,
- Thanks to the sun and his eye that looks earthward,AND Thanks to the Great Spirit for all of his
goodness.
- Iroquois Address of Thanksgiving
WORKS CITED
- Dunkling, Leslie, A Dictionary of Days, New York, New York: Facts on File Publication,1988
- Druitt, Ann, All Year Round, Trowbridge, Wilshire: Cromwell Press Ltd.,2008
- Budapest, Zsuzsanna, The Grandmother of Time, New York, NY: Harper Collins,1979
- Cole, Jennifer, Ceremonies of the Seasons, London, England: Duncan Baird,2007
- Nettleton, Sarah, The Simple Home, Newton, CT: Taunton Press, 2007
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