The light isn’t back yet.
What do you mean these are the rituals we have. We’re doing the right things. We’re baking the bread, we’re singing the songs, we’re lighting the candles, what do you mean the light isn’t back yet. Why don’t we have better rituals. Why don’t we have something that will fix this dark.
And the answer is: because it is December, pals. It is December, and that is not what these rituals are for. We don’t knead saffron into enriched dough and light fires and hold our loved ones close because it will change astronomy. That is literally not what we’re doing here. These are the right things to be doing not because they will alter the fundamental nature of science but because they’re what we’ve got while the inexorable nature of the universe keeps working. This warmth, this goodness, this humanity is what we’ve got that we can control–because the timing of the Solstice is out of our control.
Yes, I’m totally talking about the Solstice, why do you ask? That is definitely what I’m talking about here.
And at the beginning of the day–no, not the end of the day, Santa Lucia is a beginning of the day holiday–at the beginning of the day, it is better to knead the dough that rose really well but for some reason is still a really tough knead. It is better to clear the epic plough ridge from the end of the walk. It is better to mask up in public places. It is better to keep doing the best we can, even knowing that the best we can is not an immediate fix, because immediate fixes are not the only thing we have, comfort and joy and mitigation are also worth having for themselves. And lussekatter. Lussekatter are definitely worth having for themselves.
Happy Santa Lucia Day. Keep trying.
2020: https://marissalingen.com/blog/?p=2953
2019: https://marissalingen.com/blog/?p=2654
2018: https://marissalingen.com/blog/?p=2376
2017: https://marissalingen.com/blog/?p=1995
2016: https://marissalingen.com/blog/?p=1566
2015: https://marissalingen.com/blog/?p=1141
2014: https://marissalingen.com/blog/?p=659
2013: https://marissalingen.com/blog/?p=260
2012: https://mrissa.dreamwidth.org/840172.html
2011: https://mrissa.dreamwidth.org/796053.html
2010: https://mrissa.dreamwidth.org/749157.html
2009: https://mrissa.dreamwidth.org/686911.html
2008: https://mrissa.dreamwidth.org/594595.html
2007: https://mrissa.dreamwidth.org/2007/12/12/ and https://mrissa.dreamwidth.org/502729.html
2006: https://mrissa.dreamwidth.org/380798.html — the post that started it all! Lots more about the process and my own personal lussekatt philosophy here!