Here we are, at the other end of the time warp known as the Thanksgiving weekend. For much of the previous four days, at least in the US, time has been suspended. Though not universal, the four-day Thanksgiving weekend has become the norm for a fair majority of Americans. While each of the four days are not officially designated as holidays, it is generally accepted that they are not in any way productive and reserved for the pursuit of sloth and gluttony. We here at Midnight and other beasts sincerely hope that you all got your share.
For those familiar with the Roman Catholic (and some Protestant) traditions, one knows of the Liturgical Calendar. For those not familiar at all, this calendar serves as sort of a season program for church services. In addition to a weekly schedule, the calendar has distinct demarcations of various seasons and feasts, alternating between penance and celebration. Those days within the calendar, which are not within any of these demarcations, are known as "ordinary time".
The final day of this Thanksgiving weekend, 30 November, marks the first Sunday of Advent in the Liturgical Calendar. It also, as Advent does, marks the start of a new liturgical year. Within the modern, secular reality that most people navigate this means nothing. We're still on someone else's calendar, wrestling against one or more arbitrary deadlines set by others, or by ourselves. We are attuned to the Christmas shopping season, which actually overlaps the Thanksgiving weekend, beginning as it does on Black Friday. With sloth and gluttony already well represented, it hardly seems right that greed should be excluded.
The spirit of Advent is lost. The season that was meant for quiet reflection, patient and careful preparation for the light to come, has been supplanted by a frenzied season of commercial indulgence. For most, the only remaining vestiges of Advent are the calendars, stuffed with everything from stockings to shortbread. We've left ourselves little room for patience and quiet. We've abandoned the ritual of preparing that wreath and lighting the candles every Sunday. The Christian holy days have been overtaken by the secular holidays.
To you, our readers, this may seem to be little more than another of countless laments voiced at this time of year, every year, for the erosion of our holiday traditions. You're not entirely wrong. It is a lament, of sorts; yet it is not. You see, this has happened before. Many of the Christmas holiday traditions to which we have grown accustomed, are in fact pagan traditions which were co-opted by the Roman Church during their first "World Conversion Tour" (590-1095 CE). This goes down right to the very date of Christmas Day, the birth of the Christ. December 25 just happens to coincide with the more ancient Feast of Mithras, a common custom among the Gentiles of the region. Other pagan traditions marked the Winter Solstice as a feast day.
I'm confident that most of our audience is already familiar with these facts. I will take this occasion to add yet another aspect to consider surrounding the Nativity story. In the season of that blessed event in Bethlehem, the Julian calendar which we know today, had only been established by Rome a mere forty-five years prior. We'll call that two generations. In a world where maybe five percent of the population could read. Despite Rome's proclamations, most indigenous peoples of the region, if they operated under any calendar at all, it was likely one based upon the lunar cycle. The ultimate point being that no one can say, with absolute certainty, what date Jesus of Nazareth was born. And so, we settle upon this date, December 25, as being the day, for right or wrong. Christmas is the only religious holiday that is also designated a federal holiday. The Romans would be proud.
When one starts to examine the calendar of federal holidays, it would seem that it approaches the character of a liturgical calendar, albeit with dates spaced more evenly throughout the year. There are federal holidays, weekends and those odd days strung in between. Then there is ordinary time. They are better to stick with the model of co-opting the prior regime, adopting the term ordinary time. A better term for these days would be "slave days", but that is another conversation.
I can easily imagine a progression here. Eventually there will be a federal holiday, known as the Feast of Saint Halas, which would run from Thanksgiving Day until December 24. Hell, it's not like there are any federal employees working those dates now. The feds can auction off naming rights every so many years for this, and other extended holidays. This Easter/Vernal Equinox celebration brought to you by the makers of Wegovy. Independence Week celebration sponsored by the Gates Foundation, because... fuck you! And all of the other little days and weeks between will be officially designated Ordinary Time.
Until that happens, the Monday after Thanksgiving still feels very, very much like a return to ordinary time.
Hope you all have a great week. At least an okay week. Or don't and you could always lie about it. We'd never know the difference. Coming up this week on Midnight and other beasts...
An article titled Ugly. And maybe some other stuff...
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