HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: We've been talking about traditions and family rituals and time this week--the end of the year and the holidays always make us a bit nostalgic, and joyful that we can link past and present a future a bit. And maybe it's time to add some new traditions.
The Comfort of Ritual
Today we welcome the always-fabulous Rochelle Staab--who I met by magic (we'll tell you the story when we see you)--and who continues to have a magical and wonderful rise through mystery world. Talk about a magical mystery tour!
More on that later...but now Rochelle continues this week's theme of tradition and time. (Don't you love it when the theme emerges? As so often happens, it wasn't planned.)
The Comfort of Ritual One of the benefits of being a writer is the carte blanche we are given to explore wherever imagination takes us. My latest research stack is piled with books and articles on superstitions, magick, taboos, fetishes, and ritual.
Part routine, part habit, and part hope, but never rational—our rituals and traditions generate stabilizing threads of comfort. I’m not very superstitious, but the holidays bring up sentimental rituals I learned to cherish. Simple yearly traditions, like drinking eggnog while decorating my tree, or spending Christmas day at the movies with friends. One of my favorite rituals waits inside a plastic CVS bag tucked in the back of a brass-hinged chest in my living room. In the bag is a dry branch clipped from last year’s Christmas tree. I’ll use the branch to kindle the fire on the night I decorate this year’s tree.
I learned the custom years ago at a Winter Solstice party. Twenty multicultural neighbors gathered to celebrate the coming holidays: Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Epiphany, and the
day after Christmas sales. A psychic read Tarot cards in the den, a local witch stirred mulled Wassail punch in the kitchen, the host’s dog Peg trotted through the house wearing felt reindeer ears, and It’s A Wonderful Life played on TV. A typical west coast holiday party? Not really, but it was one of the more interesting.
Winter Solstice is the shortest day and longest night of the year. Our host explained that, centuries ago, there was a fear the nights would continue to grow longer until the sun disappeared completely. Evergreen trees, mistletoe, and holly—the only foliage to remain green through the bleak winter months—epitomized the triumph of life over death and were said to hold special powers. In our first ritual of the evening, to symbolize hope for spring, we joined as a group to bring in the evergreen tree from the local tree lot.
Once the tree was in place in his living room, we gathered to perform rituals established long before Santa, the Macy’s Parade, holiday cards, candy canes, “White Christmas”, and the annual L.A. Lakers Christmas game. First our host burned a clipping from his last year’s tree in the hearth to honor continuity. Then we circled strings of lights on the new tree to light the night and encourage the sun to return, bringing longer days.
Each guest received a red ribbon and a piece of paper. We made a wish for the coming year and tied our ribbons on the “magical” tree. On the papers we each made a list of things from the past year we hoped to leave behind. And in our final ritual, tossing our goodbye lists onto the Yule log burning in the fireplace, we bid farewell to dark days.
The traditions we honored were a mixture of European and pagan customs, and perhaps our host’s imagination, but the symbolism of the evening charmed me enough to carry on burning the previous year’s tree branch and tying a “wish” ribbon on my new tree. Comforting. Hopeful.
The Winter Solstice is December 22 this year. Each day thereafter is a step toward spring. My warmest thanks go to Hank and the Jungle Red writers for inviting me to guest at Jungle Red today. I wish you all long happy days, warm sunlight, lasting traditions, and dreams come true!
HANK: Oh, my dear Rochelle. You are unceasingly amazing. All our wonderful wishes for you in the coming year--and may you revel in your national best-sellerness...and perhaps, have another!
Part routine, part habit, and part hope, but never rational—our rituals and traditions generate stabilizing threads of comfort. I’m not very superstitious, but the holidays bring up sentimental rituals I learned to cherish. Simple yearly traditions, like drinking eggnog while decorating my tree, or spending Christmas day at the movies with friends. One of my favorite rituals waits inside a plastic CVS bag tucked in the back of a brass-hinged chest in my living room. In the bag is a dry branch clipped from last year’s Christmas tree. I’ll use the branch to kindle the fire on the night I decorate this year’s tree.
I learned the custom years ago at a Winter Solstice party. Twenty multicultural neighbors gathered to celebrate the coming holidays: Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Epiphany, and the
day after Christmas sales. A psychic read Tarot cards in the den, a local witch stirred mulled Wassail punch in the kitchen, the host’s dog Peg trotted through the house wearing felt reindeer ears, and It’s A Wonderful Life played on TV. A typical west coast holiday party? Not really, but it was one of the more interesting.Winter Solstice is the shortest day and longest night of the year. Our host explained that, centuries ago, there was a fear the nights would continue to grow longer until the sun disappeared completely. Evergreen trees, mistletoe, and holly—the only foliage to remain green through the bleak winter months—epitomized the triumph of life over death and were said to hold special powers. In our first ritual of the evening, to symbolize hope for spring, we joined as a group to bring in the evergreen tree from the local tree lot.
Once the tree was in place in his living room, we gathered to perform rituals established long before Santa, the Macy’s Parade, holiday cards, candy canes, “White Christmas”, and the annual L.A. Lakers Christmas game. First our host burned a clipping from his last year’s tree in the hearth to honor continuity. Then we circled strings of lights on the new tree to light the night and encourage the sun to return, bringing longer days.
Each guest received a red ribbon and a piece of paper. We made a wish for the coming year and tied our ribbons on the “magical” tree. On the papers we each made a list of things from the past year we hoped to leave behind. And in our final ritual, tossing our goodbye lists onto the Yule log burning in the fireplace, we bid farewell to dark days.
The traditions we honored were a mixture of European and pagan customs, and perhaps our host’s imagination, but the symbolism of the evening charmed me enough to carry on burning the previous year’s tree branch and tying a “wish” ribbon on my new tree. Comforting. Hopeful.
The Winter Solstice is December 22 this year. Each day thereafter is a step toward spring. My warmest thanks go to Hank and the Jungle Red writers for inviting me to guest at Jungle Red today. I wish you all long happy days, warm sunlight, lasting traditions, and dreams come true!
HANK: Oh, my dear Rochelle. You are unceasingly amazing. All our wonderful wishes for you in the coming year--and may you revel in your national best-sellerness...and perhaps, have another!
So, Reds, what would you put on your goodbye list? And how about what you would wish? (Rochelle will have to let us know if it's okay to reveal that part...)
A copy of Who Do, Voodoo to one lucky commenter!
************************
Rochelle Staab, a former award-winning radio programmer and music industry marketing executive, blends her fascination with the supernatural and her love for mystery in Who Do, Voodoo? the bestselling first novel in her Mind for Murder Mystery series for Berkley Prime Crime. Who Do, Voodoo? features no-nonsense Liz Cooper, a Los Angeles psychologist forced to embrace the occult to clear her best friend of murder. Bruja Brouhaha, the second novel in the series, will be released in August 2012.
http://www.rochellestaab.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rochelle.staab
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/rochellestaab
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4705211.Rochelle_Staab
http://www.rochellestaab.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rochelle.staab
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/rochellestaab
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4705211.Rochelle_Staab
