Santa the shaman
We don't "do" Santa around here. This means we don't lie to the children and tell them there is a jolly fat man with a white beard who gives children toys every December 24. We do discuss the story and history (a little) of Santa Claus, and say that since it's so fun to think about Santa it's totally OK to pretend that Santa is real. This is especially nice for my eldest, who is by nature a generously giving person.
We do "do" the Winter Solstice and the secular holiday of Christmas, though (mostly as an excuse for a formal holiday to exchange gifts). I've been scouring books about the Solstice and Christmas in an effort to clarify for myself what I feel is important to me about this time of year, and to help my children decide that as well. To this end, in a most fabulous book called The Winter Solstice: the Sacred Traditions of Christmas, by John Matthews, I found this really beautiful sentitment about Santa and giving and the myth of Santa itself:
"Santa Claus... has his grip on the world axis. His yearly tour steadies us all. Remote, at the top of the world, in a land of eternal snow, he gathers the energy spent in the year's passing. Then he sails like a shaman, off into the solsticial darkness, to re-allocate the power to the world's children.
"It's a promise in Christmas presents that through children and through the seasonal renewal, the world is ever young."
[quoted by Matthews from E.C. Krupp's Beyond the Blue Horizon - which I have not read]
How wonderful to view all the giving and attention we parents and elders share with children at this time of darkness and renewal as part of the renewing of the world, empowering children. This fills me with a joy I can't exactly describe, thinking that gifting is really about giving my children power to renew the world. It certainly changes the role of gifts, and the power of adults to participate in this annual ritual. And if we ever needed to give children the power to renew the world, it is now. Is this not the sacred role of adults, this passing on of power and tradition to the next generations, even as we wane with the passing of the year and the sun, only to again fulfill this promise the following year? It's like a Mystery in the old sense, the ritual sense, and it is to me very, very important.
I'm sure I'll be thinking about this again soon. Maybe more will follow.
We do "do" the Winter Solstice and the secular holiday of Christmas, though (mostly as an excuse for a formal holiday to exchange gifts). I've been scouring books about the Solstice and Christmas in an effort to clarify for myself what I feel is important to me about this time of year, and to help my children decide that as well. To this end, in a most fabulous book called The Winter Solstice: the Sacred Traditions of Christmas, by John Matthews, I found this really beautiful sentitment about Santa and giving and the myth of Santa itself:
"Santa Claus... has his grip on the world axis. His yearly tour steadies us all. Remote, at the top of the world, in a land of eternal snow, he gathers the energy spent in the year's passing. Then he sails like a shaman, off into the solsticial darkness, to re-allocate the power to the world's children.
"It's a promise in Christmas presents that through children and through the seasonal renewal, the world is ever young."
[quoted by Matthews from E.C. Krupp's Beyond the Blue Horizon - which I have not read]
How wonderful to view all the giving and attention we parents and elders share with children at this time of darkness and renewal as part of the renewing of the world, empowering children. This fills me with a joy I can't exactly describe, thinking that gifting is really about giving my children power to renew the world. It certainly changes the role of gifts, and the power of adults to participate in this annual ritual. And if we ever needed to give children the power to renew the world, it is now. Is this not the sacred role of adults, this passing on of power and tradition to the next generations, even as we wane with the passing of the year and the sun, only to again fulfill this promise the following year? It's like a Mystery in the old sense, the ritual sense, and it is to me very, very important.
I'm sure I'll be thinking about this again soon. Maybe more will follow.
posted by Skim @ 8:36 PM
1 Comments:
At 11:45 PM,
Anonymous said…
Right on, sister! I think this needs to be read at the Solstice party. Especially the last paragraph. Beautifully said. So, this also means, we need to give our children gifts that make them powerful, confident, and able to restore the youth to the world. Hmmm....
Tata
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