For many of us, the post-holiday period can feel like a let-down. This is especially true in places like Minnesota, where the winter festivities are over long before the deep winter begins (the coldest month here is January).
This mismatch between the holidays and the actual lived experience of winter wasn’t always so stark. For most of Christian history, the Christmas season didn’t begin until Christmas Eve at earliest. Some wouldn’t put up a tree until New Year’s Eve.
This Sunday, Christians celebrate Epiphany, which marks one traditional end of Christmas (the end of the twelve days – join us in the main sanctuary at 5pm!). But older traditions, dating to the middle ages, actually ended Christmas with Candlemas on February 2nd. There are even some indications that some continued the holiday revelry until Ash Wednesday.
We know that winters here at Carleton can be hard. They are dark, cold, and long. Yet we can take inspiration from those in the past who refused to relinquish the holiday spirit prematurely. They knew that the true deep midwinter was when we need the joy of lights, songs, and community the most. May we be unafraid to embrace them even now, as we begin the new year together.