General Discussion

really including all holidays and *rituals* (ceremonies of all types). I do a couple of the Meals per year, without the connotations. I prepare for the stretch from Halloween through New Years. Hah - about 20 years ago for some reason the *noise* and hullabaloo were even extra extra with the t.v. and events stirring up the populace to a frenzy, and in my neighborhood there were some very elderly people living about two blocks from me, and in the last couple of weeks there were *ambulances* wailing and whizzing past me to them.

Other non-participants have said that the holiday craze is weeks of feeling alienated. For me, it's peaceful. I do keep watch on the calendar for when the lack of mail and there being extra customers in the stores and kids out of school going on. I used to like New Years more than the other ones, but at my old age now I'm surprised to have made it another year and how fast it went.

Somewhere there was an item about the Romans, that as the government institutions became more intrusive and entrenched, they started adding on more and more holidays to the calendar. Here's a list, don't know how formal/mandatory/work-free they were: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_festivals

As far as rituals go, the 2 or 3 times I've made an appearance for a funeral or such - meaning a Catholic Mass - I've been so out of touch with the kneeling and mumbling. I saw one of my cousins smirking, stifling her giggling at my imbalance to genuflect. Rituals. I've realized that, like with all show performances, *rehearsal* is key - like how there are "rehearsal dinners" for weddings? I say that "reincarnation" is something like having *rehearsals* for a stage show or a movie!