It is the Advent season and the wonderful magic of Christmas that is the subject of my thoughts today.
The entire commercial aspect of Christmas in the States (and no doubt throughout the world in any place that celebrates the holiday) has succeeded in making it less than totally enchanting. When Christmas ornaments are promoted on the shelves of every big shop and supermarket directly after Hallowe'en, one's sense of time is displaced. I do not wish to think about Christmas BEFORE Advent. Much to my dismay, however, when I asked some one at the supermarket today if they had any miniature live trees now, he said, 'No, they're all gone. We're winding down on Christmas now!' Christmas remains a week away and yet, for the supermarket, it's almost over! What happened to the twelve days of Christmas that only BEGAN on Christmas Eve and did not end until Epiphany?
What is the true meaning of Christmas? I personally believe that it is an intensely powerful ancient pagan festival imbued over the ages with the religious fervour and beliefs of more than one group of people. The Christmas Evergreen is as much a part of the true meaning of Christmas as the birth of Christ. I pity those Christian fundamentalists who have turned against Christmas because of its pagan roots. What is pagan and what is Christian anyway? Christ is the symbol of the Sacrificed God, an epic tale that predates his own life by thousands of years. He came and added his part to the saga, but that does not mean that one should revere him any less or attempt to amputate Christianity from its universal source.
One of my favourite Christmas traditions is that of the creche or 'Nativity'. To create a microcosmic scene of the original drama of the birth of the God in a cave, surrounded by animals and attended both by the pastoral (shepherd Dumuzi) and the Magi (symbols both of the arcane and of cities and civilisations) is a ceremony that always opens the floodgates of consciousness for me. The tradition of not placing the crib with the Baby in the creche until Christmas Eve is very powerful as well.
The stage is set. The participants gather... and we wait, as day by day, another window on the Advent Calendar is opened.
I remember the thrill of opening those windows as a child. It was nothing more than cardboard and simple images, but they engendered a sense of excitement similar to that of unwrapping a sweetie.
About Me
- Valkyrie Hawk
- My name is Eugenia-Maria Martino de Conde. Freyashawk is the name under which I write game guides and play many games. I specialise in Northern mythology but my original academic background is in History and British Law. Mine is the view of an exile, a Swan-Maiden rather than a god. Not an exile from heaven (that would be arrogant), but an exile nonetheless. I have lived in La Jolla, Nepal, London, Southampton, Manhattan, Roma, Pennsylvania et alia but spiritually belong to no land. Thus the affiliation with the air, hawk and swan. A Valkyrie chooses heroes from the slain. Walking among the dead is disconcerting. My greatest loves are my daughter and my Puttikins, my Himalayan cat clan. As Freyashawk, I write strategy guides for games. Time to write another novel for a writer can be a Valkyrie, creating warriors from her imagination that inspire people in the eternal battle between good and evil. Therein is the power I desire.
