The Ghost of Christmas Past

This time of year, we can be found speaking of the Spirit of Christmas...but what is this Spirit?

Is it the gift-giving frenzy?
Is it the song by Ray Charles?
Is it the quality time spent with loved ones?
Is it the ornaments, trees and candles?
Is it the ghosts who visited Scrooge?
Is it putting aside our differences?
Is it the remembrances of a Child born?

What is the Spirit of Christmas? Is it a tangible thing? Or more ethereal, like a ghost, which simply becomes more evident this season?

Thin places (or spaces) are places where the divine seems to touch the earth, or where it seems the spiritual or supernatural becomes more evident to us. Most of us, from any spiritual tradition, can attest to the existence of these places, even if it seems illogical to believe in them.

But I now wonder about the existence of "thin seasons", as well. Seasons when the supernatural makes a point to reach out to us temporal beings; where Spirit becomes almost visible...or maybe we, as humanity, are simply more receptive, when our spiritual senses are heightened.

Realizing I'm tainted by my Christian roots and my Northern Hemisphere cosmic clock, December has always been an extraordinary time of reflection, remembrance, and forward-looking in my life. I feel a communion or kinship with others, and a romance in my soul. An intense desire to be inward-looking, even as I find myself more outward-focused. It's difficult to put a name to it; it's something warm and bright, yet something deep and primal; born, I suppose, by this season of fires and lights.

I used to think this sense of spiritual thinness was due to the anticipated coming of the light again. In the Northern Hemisphere, our shortest day of the year is right before Christmas, so it would make sense that at this time of year something inside us, our circadian rhythm, would let us know about the increasing light, and correlate that with the season and spirit of Christmas. However, as I thought about that, I realized this explanation was too narrow. So I spoke with a few of my Southern Hemisphere friends, whose days will begin becoming shorter post-Christmas, and I realized this same holiday spirit still exists, even though it falls in the summer months, when light is beginning to wane.

I wonder if there is more to it than just the changing of the seasons? I wonder if there is something more powerful happening this time of year than the changing orbit of the earth?

So, then, we are tempted to correlate this Spirit with the Christmas celebration of the birth of Jesus. Surely there is something immensely spiritual about that? Yet, the thing we do know is that we don't really know when Jesus was born, and it's unlikely it was December 25th or January 6th (or the corresponding days on the Roman Calendar). So why do we feel something we call The Spirit of Christmas during this time, even if it does not really fall at the time Jesus was born? This date was simply arbitrarily selected, the reasons seem to be vague.

And, then, why are so many other traditions called to celebrate this time of year, when their celebrations have nothing to do with Jesus? Some of these other traditions were in place before the birth of Jesus, so we can't attribute them to that event.

I know I'm not the only one who feels the depth and beauty which is unique to this time of year. I believe there is a common spiritual thread running through the people in all time which has determined our desire to celebrate this time of year. I believe this time of year is a thin season...because so many spiritual traditions have a major celebration or holy day during the month of December.

I wonder if something was born for us at the dawn of time, long, long ago; a ghost of a season, for humanity to more powerfully and gracefully experience the divine, together, unified, even as disunity prevails?

I wonder if part the Creator's plan was to simply provide a season when we all are inclined to open our hearts to that which we cannot touch or see, so the many spiritual traditions which exist might celebrate together, in one month or season? Once upon a time, the Spirit of Christmas, and Hannukkah, and Kwanzaa, and Yule, and many other spiritual traditions which take place this time of year, was born for us all? I wonder if it flows in the blood of our souls and unites us as humans?

I wonder, could we learn to celebrate the common thread of spiritual wonder and power which occurs this season, even as different as our traditions might be?

I wonder.

I wonder.





Redeeming the Season is the Topic for this month's SynchroBlog. There are a variety of seasons being celebrated at the end of each year, from Christmas to Hannukah to Eid al-Adha and Muharram, from the Winter Solstice to Kwanzaa and Yule. Still, some people celebrate none of these seasonal holydays, and do so for good reason. For more holidays to consider see Wheel of the Year.

Below are a variety of responses to the subject of Redeeming the Season. Some links are active, some are inactive but will become active when published, others will be updated as they become available.

Recapturing the Spirit of Christmas at Adam Gonnerman's Igneous Quill
Swords into Plowshares at Sonja Andrew's Calacirian
Fanning the Flickering Flame of Advent at Paul Walker's Out of the Cocoon
Lainie Petersen at Headspace
Eager Longing at Sam Norton's Elizaphanian
Redeeming Not Just the Season at Brian Riley's Charis Shalom
Secularizing Christmas at JohnSmulo.com
There's Something About Mary at Hello Said Jenelle
Geocentric Versus Anthropocentric Holydays at Phil Wyman's Square No More
Celebrating Christmas in a Pluralistic Society at Matt Stone's Journeys in Between
Season of Redemption by Steve Hayes
Remembering the Incarnation at Alan Knox's The Assembling of the Church
What's So Bad About Christmas? at Julie Clawson's One Hand Clapping
The Obligation of Christmas by Jonathan Brink
A Biblical Approach to a Secular Christmas at Glenn Ansley's Bad Theology
Happy Life Day at AgentB's The Agent B Files