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Friday July 30,2010

Holidays or Holy Days

by Robert Gerzon

This time of year, as the holidays approach, most of us start to get that special look on our faces. It's a particular expression - stunned, harried and overwhelmed - expressions symptomatic of a seasonal mental disorder I call the "holidaze." And who can blame us for feeling dazed and confused? We're being steamrollered by the biggest, most powerful juggernaut of combined and synchronized sociocultural and commercial forces known to humanity - euphemistically known as Christmas, Hanukkah or simply The Holidays.

We mentally hunker down as we would for the approach of hurricane season. We anxiously ask each other, "Are you ready for the holidays?" "Have you done your shopping?" "Have you gathered the requisite storehouse of supplies with which to weather the seasonal onslaught?"

This jolly season of celebration is our most stressful time of year. Visits to doctors increase, calls to emergency hotlines zoom upward, tempers flare, depression and anxiety spread like the flu, energy levels and bank accounts plunge to annual lows. How did we manage to create such a terrifying, energy-zapping, mind-numbing monster out of something originally designed to be a time of true joy and spiritual renewal?

Let your mind drift back a few hundred years. The winter cold is numbing and the sky is overcast. The fields are frozen; the stored harvest in the root cellar must last until spring. The days are short and travel is difficult; few care to venture far from the fire in the hearth. Each gray day brings the usual challenge - to keep the spirits up despite monotony, deprivation and isolation.

So the communal wisdom creates a spirit-lifting counterbalance to the dark, quiet nature of the season with celebrations of blazing fires, bright lights, music, festive gatherings, bright clothing, special foods and an exchange of gifts. The anxiety of winter survival is answered with a bold display of the symbols of life: food, fire, finery and festival.