New Life in the Dead of Winter

   Tomorrow will be New Year's Eve in human Western culture.  When I moved to Baile Eile from Cu Tailte as a young Faerie, I found it strange that humans, at least most of those in the Western hemisphere, celebrate the first day of the New Year during the winter.  This seemed entirely out of step with nature.  In Cu Tailte, the New Year is celebrated at the start of Spring.  This emphasizes the natural cycle of birth, death and rebirth.  Think about it. Spring is the time of new life. It is the time when most plants begin to grow and trees begin to flower.  Many animals are born in the Spring.  It is a season of new life, hope and promise.  Then that life comes to full blossom in the Summer and either is harvested or begins to fade or wither in the Autumn.  Winter is a dark, cold season when the trees are bare, food is scarce, and life seems to be buried  by the snow. Everything seems dead, but then in the Spring, color and abundance return to the earth. There is new life and new beginnings, a chance to start fresh.

     How strange, then, that humans celebrate the New Year in the dead of Winter.  Having spent some time now among humans, I've begun to realize that starting the new year in the middle of the season of dormancy is not so strange and is perhaps quite a good idea.  Winter can seem very long and sometimes it's hard to remember that Spring will come.  Celebrating the New Year, then, in the midst of Winter dreariness can be a call to hope and to the belief that, even in the midst of grayness and difficulty, the seeds of good things to come are being sown.  The song, "The Rose," points this out:

          "Just remember, in the winter,      

           Far beneath the bitter snows,

           Lies the seed that,             

           With the sun's love

           In the Spring becomes

           the rose."

     So, in the midst of Winter, as the New Year is about to begin, hope in the good things that will come to fruition this year.  Welcome the promise that comes with new life and rebirth.  Let go of discouragement and anything that keeps you in the darkness of winter.  You have the opportunity to come to new life, to start again.  What will you do with it?  What do you hope for?  What do you promise for yourself and for others?

I wish you a New Year of peace and joy.

Blessings!
Keena*

*If you are new to this blog and are wondering who Keena is (since Christine Dorman is listed as the person who does the posts) she is a guest blogger.  Please see the posts "The Faerie Who Lives Down the Block" and "Culture Shock" to learn more about her.  And in case you're wondering about the fact that I have a Faerie as a guest blogger...she is a character in my novel Music of Dragons. Which isn't to say that she isn't real :)