Waiting
Faith Kenrick reflects on potential blessings
A cold time of year, a dreary gap between leafy trees, when after autumn burn-out, Europe, sterilised by freezing temperatures, erupts into odd festivities to keep the blood circulating. Wintertime and Christmas are an occasion for a kind of collective madness. October’s Halloween, followed with bonfires on Guy Fawkes’ night, reminds us of our democratic origins. While in Canada and the USA, Thanksgiving in late November affirms the collective over the individual, a reminder of the forefathers’ earlier emigrant history arriving at new and unknown shores. These chime in with other religious festivals of lights, like Diwali in the Hindu community and Judaism’s Hanukkah midwinter festival. In a way, fear of cold mimics the symptoms of a feverish illness when a temperate climate’s ‘sickness months’ set in, compared to the year’s three seasons of fecundity.
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