Okay, so it snowed! A lot! By the time you read this, and well into January, we could all be seeing snow up to the window ledges, or bare brown ground and temps of 50 degrees. There’s just no telling what Mother Nature has in store for this season of celebrations. And it’s a busy time of festivities, no doubt. As a former librarian and English teacher, I sounded the usual notes of caution about using Wikipedia as a reliable source. Yet, look at the festivities I discovered:December 8th is Bodhi Day, to celebrate the time the historical Buddha experienced enlightenment. From the 21st-25th is the Hindu Ganesha, a festival in honor of Panchayat Ganapati. Kwanzaa, from Dec. 26th-January 1st, is a USA celebration of Pan-African traditions.

The Lunar New Year is a time in late January-mid February for Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese,
Koreans, and Mongolians to ring in the new year. Three festivals celebrate the light of hope in
dark times: St. Lucia Day in Scandinavia, the Jewish Hanukkah, and the Winter Solstice.
Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus on the 25th of December and the feast of St. Nicholas on
the 6th. Check out the Eve of St. Nicholas-Krampusnacht-on your own!

May you enjoy the celebrations of the winter season, and I’ll leave you with a few lines of a
Robert Frost poem that seems to embody the wonderful stillness of winter:

Still it wouldn’t reward the watcher to stay awake
In hopes of seeing the calm of heaven break
On his particular time and personal sight.
That calm seems certainly safe to last tonight.
“On Looking Up By Chance at the Constellations”