First Footing

My Scottish grandfather used to be the designated 'first footer'. This meant, the first person over the threshold of a home after midnight on 'old year's night', as my mother's family used to call it. In order to bring luck he had to be tall and dark, and 'Other Daddy' fit that description. I called him 'Other Daddy' because my father was away in the second World War and my mother and I lived with her parents during those years. 'Other Daddy' died at this time, on old year's night, but not from first footing!

There are a couple of other traditions connected with this. For instance, the first footer would bring in a lump of coal to represent warmth for the coming year. Also, some kind of a small cake for nourishment. An English woman I met once told me that silver coins would be scattered on the stairs and swept under the carpet, to be found and used by the housewife at any time during the next year. Presumably those were for prosperity.

Our New Year's Eve will be a quiet looking back and a beginning to think about what those resolutions might need to be. I'm feeling the need to do some getting rid of the past, in order to make way for the future. So I've made a small start by going through my emails and deleting as many as feels fit. It's somewhat horrifying to see how much time this has taken!

And now to do some housecleaning in anticipation.

Winter solstice and new moon

I don't know about you, but since the weekend something in the atmosphere has changed for me... for the better, I'm glad to say. Maybe it has to do with the combination of new moon and winter solstice, but I'm feeling a new mood of hope and energy for some new initiatives, the latter something I haven't experienced for quite a while.

Looking back, I realize the past six months have been some of the most taxing of my entire life. I'm grateful that I survived and managed to accomplish them.

And now I look forward to the coming thirteen Holy Nights and twelve days of Christmas. I wish you all happiness and blessings.

Today, the 16th December

I read/heard somewhere that today was Beethoven's birthday (if I remember correctly). What I'm sure about is that whoever gave me that information also suggested this was the day one could/should listen to all his symphonies. Much as I love Beethoven and his symphonies, I have to say that this idea fills me with horror. Truth is, I'd be as full as can be just by listening to one, and more than that would be sensory overload for sure.

Yes, as I get older I find the 'less is more' thinking closer to my heart. Certainly I read less and take more time to absorb what I do read.

On a completely different note, today used to be a holiday in South Africa. This was not a festive day, far from it. It was rather a solemn remembrance of a vow taken. Known as the Day of the Covenant, this was used year after year to help entrench apartheid. Maybe the 16th bears another name now. Goodness knows these days there are enough official holidays in South Africa to fill a month of Sundays. Maybe even more. The trend there seems to be more rather than less. In North America we're going the other way, reducing the number of days off. In this case I feel that's a shame. So many people work too-long hours these days and days off provide welcome and needed breathing space.

Penguins

Now I ask you, when and how did penguins become part of Christmas?

To answer my own question on a purely factual level... About five years ago I sent my husband out to buy wrapping paper. To my dismay he brought back a huge roll of red, black and white, yes, penguins. I say my dismay because I usually look for colours and patterns that have some kind of traditional connection with the season. And that paper lasted -- well, let's just say, too long. I think it was last year that we managed to use up the last scrap.

But it turns out my husband was ahead of the trend. Now I see penguins everywhere. We've even received a penguin Christmas card. And over the weekend when I was driving to visit friends, a blown-up figure in a front garden caught my eye. Yes, instead of a Santa, it was a penguin wearing a Santa hat!

So I'm baffled. All I can say or think is that they somehow look cute and cheerful.

On the water

Ships, boats and sailing on the water have been somewhat on my mind recently. This was sparked by singing the carol 'I saw three ships come sailing in...', and by news of a friend who was off to take a cruise. She told me how much she loves cruising. And then I glanced at a travel report that stated the one thing you don't get on a cruise is the sensation of being at sea!

I've been fortunate in my life to take short and long journeys across the oceans. My first experience was when, as a young teenager, I sailed from Cape Town to the U.K. This is a two-week trip I've done five times, and once I did the three week up the East coast of Africa from Durban to Venice, stopping at exotic destinations on the way. Smaller scale are so many crossings of the English channel on visits to and from the European Continent. Smaller still, sailing from Cape Town to Robben Island before it was the famous prison, around the Vancouver islands. Smallest of all sailings and boatings on lagoons, rivers and lakes.

So all this is a preamble to a deeper wondering (no pun intended): what really is the difference we experience while on the water? I don't think it's simply the fact that we're no longer standing on the earth with all its forces under our feet. There's something special about being free of the land that puts you (well, me at any rate) in a different soul space. Thinking about those cross-channel trips, I remember standing at the rail watching the sea drift past, breathing in the salty air and feeling enlarged and uplifted.

Yes, the boat carrying us over the water is a potent image, and one I'm happy to live with in these advent days.