What is "The Holiday Month"?

The Holiday Month is an attempt to celebrate a calendar years worth of holidays during the month of January, 2012.

When the holiday takes place on a specific day (i.e. St. Patrick's Day always takes place on March 17th), then it will be celebrated on January 17th. When a holiday takes place on a rotating day (i.e. Thanksgiving takes place on the fourth Thursday of November), then it will be celebrated on the corresponding day in January.

Concessions had to be made for holidays corresponding with religious calendars . These holidays, such as Easter and Purim, will be celebrated on the dates that they are taking place in 2012. Mardi Gras, the celebration that marks the beginning of the season of Lent, is being celebrated on the Tuesday before Easter, as this would then represent the beginning and end of that religious celebration.

The holidays celebrated during this month are in NO WAY all of the holidays celebrated throughout the year. Every effort was made to create a list that would cover major religious beliefs, as well as fun and interesting holidays that everyone might not celebrate.

Happy Holidays!

Friday, January 6, 2012

January 6th - Good Friday

(Not Feeling So) Good Friday

Today is the first of my really religious holidays, and I have to be honest that I'm not too pumped about it.  Last night's stand up performance (and subsequent night out at Arizona Pete’s) has done little to help get me in the spirit of what Good Friday is all about.  But I’m going to give it the old college try and hope for the best.

A quick note/disclaimer:

I grew up Catholic (my mom is of the southern, Irish variety), but I have not been an active member of the Church (or any religion, for that matter), since I was in 7th grade.  I consider myself an atheist, but one that is open to discussion and open to another person’s beliefs.  I don’t have all the answers, and I don’t have my ideas set in stone. While religious belief is not necessary for me, I believe that open discussion, free of close-mindedness and prior judgement, is absolutely vital.  Because I know that the question of existence is too big for any one of us to actually answer on our own.

So even if I don’t believe in the big man upstairs, I still respect someone’s belief in Him and understand why such a belief or such a need exists. This is why I see no problem celebrating today, or any of the other religious holidays on the list for that matter.  The Holiday Month project, for me, is about appreciating each day, but also about learning why we celebrate certain things.  So for today, and for the upcoming religious holidays, there might not be a lot of “goofing off” as there will be on other days (I apologize for anyone who worships the Groundhog).

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s continue.

Good Friday is the day in which Jesus of Nazareth was crucified at Calvary and died.  According to Christian dogma, Jesus’ death was meant to atone for the sins of humanity and therefore make eternal salvation possible. Today, then, is meant as a way for people (in particular, Catholics) to remember this sacrifice.

Even though I come down on the “non-believer” side in this whole discussion, I do believe that there was a man called Jesus who did good things.  He talked about being compassionate, and he talked about being humble.  He talked about loving your neighbors and your enemies equally, and he talked about peace.  He spoke out against the rich and championed the poor and the weak and the infirm.  If you had to pick someone to build a religion around, you really could do a lot worse.

So for me, instead of focusing on the divine aspects of this story, it is good to think of it as a story of a man who refused to give up on his beliefs at any cost.  Even if that cost was ultimately his life.  To take a day out of our lives to think about that kind of sacrifice, willpower, and resolve can’t do any harm, no matter where our religious preferences lie.

To celebrate, I did two things today.  The first thing I did was fast.  The Catholics allow for only one meal today, and that meal must be smaller than a normal sized meal.  Now, I am not a tiny person.  I'm not morbidly obese by any means, but I will never be confused with the adjective "tiny."  So fasting for me has been and is going to be interesting.  The problem is that you can basically set a watch to my stomach.  At noon, I get hungry.  Right around 6pm, I get hungry.  Without fail, no matter where I am or what I'm doing, these two things are certain.  How Gandhi did it, I will never know.


And, because it is the last Friday before the end of Lent, the whole “no-meat on Friday” rule still applies.  Which stinks because I could so go for a greasy cheeseburger right about now…

The second thing I did today was to make a kite.  Children in Bermuda make kites to symbolize Jesus (the shape of the beams make up a cross) and his ascension to heaven (flying the kite represents his flight to Heaven).  Mine was made from two cardboard crossbars from coat hangers, and an admissions poster that I cut to size.  The string was a lanyard that I stretched out, and the result can be seen below...

 Let's go fly a kite! Up to the highest height!

Did running a makeshift kite around my office bring me closer to God or to His son, Jesus?  Not at all.  But did it bring a smile to my face, reminding me that goodness and happiness are not virtues that should be forgotten but instead expressed each and every day.  And did this reminder, which put a smile on my face, make me a little more compassionate when I had to deal with an irate mother on the phone.  Yes, I believe it did.
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