The Holiday Rush

It's funny and ironic how the holidays can be even more stressful than all the other days of the year. Making up a list of presents and who to give them to, determining how much budget you have for them, actually going out and buying the presents, attending parties and family reunions left and right, going for an out of town road trip. It's no wonder that one of my friends exclaimed that she needed a vacation from the vacation! The holidays aren't that friendly to one's waistline either, although this means good business for the fitness gyms, at least for the first two or three months of the new year.

I myself am not immune to the lures of the holiday season, which is why I've only managed to post at my blog now. Yet for all the stress of the holidays, I think none of us would really give it up. The holidays are a chance to catch up with friends and/or family that you rarely get to see the rest of year. This is all the more true for friends and family who live and work abroad. The holidays are the only time they usually get to come home.

It makes me wonder though, with all the activities one is expected to engage in during the holidays, if all of this has devolved into a mere checklist of things to do before going back to our normal routine. Perhaps it's time to take another look at Christmas. There is of course the popular theme of the birth of Jesus, although closer investigation would reveal that Christmas was historically not about Jesus' birthday.

Christmas day marked the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, and it also marked the feast of Saturn. The early Church adopted Christmas day into the calendar in the hopes of convincing the pagan population to convert to the new religion. The practice of exchanging gifts is actually a holdover from the Saturnian festivities.

Such little tidbits shouldn't come as a shock to Christians. The Church adopted a lot of pagan practices with the intent of integrating the pagan population into the new religion. After all, conversion is easier when you still get to do the religious practices that you grew up with.

Regardless of the actual origins of Christmas, most people are in agreement that the holidays are a time of giving and sharing, of coming together and hopefully, forgiveness. These basic qualities have been buried under tons of advertising and partying, but they're still there for anyone to notice.

It's interesting to note that Christmas used to be a Saturnian feast. The Saturn sphere is normally associated with the Lords of Karma, and in Master Choa Kok Sui's Kabbalistic Cycle, the Saturn period is a time of creative destruction and materialization of negative karma. Alternatively, it is a time to rebuild and start anew. It's interesting that such definitions coincide with the timing of the winter solstice, which signals the end of the year in order to give birth to the new.

Knowing these things, this holiday season is a good opportunity for all of us to plant good seeds for us to harvest in the new year. After all, that's essentially what New Year's resolutions are for. There's this Christmas song, "Let's give love on Christmas Day....". However, we need not confine good behavior and firm resolution to the holidays. Imagine how much more different the world would be if we adopted good holiday attitude the whole year round?

The year 2012 has come to acquire some pretty grim connotations, especially in light of all the disasters of 2011. However, let's not forget that it's entirely up to us to generate good karma that may be used to neutralize or mitigate negative karma and also to create a better future. Adopting this new attitude may be a real challenge for some, or a breeze for others, but the goal is no less worthy of the effort.

Here's a heartfelt Merry Christmas to everyone and a blessed New Year for all!