Adapting Traditions by Jaimmie Stugard

“The cycle of the year is a mighty breathing of the earth in relation to the cosmos.” – Rudolf Steiner 

While we won’t be celebrating our traditional, community wide lantern walk this year, I hope your family will have a chance to take a lantern walk together. Adapting our seasonal celebrations and incorporating them into our home life is especially meaningful in these uncertain and unusual times. They provide an opportunity to lift ourselves out of the day to day, celebrate the earth and connect to the world around us. Including children in the preparation of simple, annual festivals creates a mood of anticipation and allows the children to experience and participate in the process of life. 

As the holidays approach, many families are considering how to adapt their holiday traditions for the safety of all while the pandemic continues. To be honest, I am really looking forward to a quiet and intimate holiday season at home with my husband and children. For years, the holidays have been a time of hustle and bustle, dashing from here to there, giving and receiving and lots and lots of eating. While I love spending time with my extended family and will surely miss them this holiday season, I think that a cozy, quiet year at home will be a nice change of pace. 

For Halloween, we will take a neighborhood walk in our costumes, light our jack o’lanterns, have a fire and warm apple cider in the yard, nibble on sweets, and watch some spooky movies. We made a candy chute in case any social distancing trick or treaters come by. In November, we’ll take a lantern walk in nature. And, we will cook together and enjoy a home-made feast of our favorite Indian cuisine this Thanksgiving. As a vegetarian, I am excited to celebrate a non-traditional feast day. And, I expect that a mellow Christmas at home may be almost as enjoyable as it is unimaginable! It has been years since I took the time to mail New Year’s cards to my family and friends and I look forward to taking the time to rekindle this tradition. I am grateful for the opportunity to slow down, adapt and deepen my experience of these family traditions. Then, when the time is right, we will once again enjoy the gift of being in community together.