Dowsing for Divinity

“Axial tilt is the reason for the season.”

This is true, but it doesn’t stop us from creating meaningful festivals in response to the season.

“Festivals are made up.”

Also true, but they’re not arbitrary or random. Festivals are created by people in response to their stories, their needs, and their environment.

It’s dark and cold in December in Northern Europe so people light bonfires, candles, fairy lights etc, eat lots of food to survive the cold, and tell stories for entertainment.

I went to a talk once given by Marian Green and she suggested that all festivals relate to sheep (taking them up to the high pasture, bringing them down from the high pasture, celebrating when they have lambs, etc). This is very likely true in sheep farming areas. In arable farming areas, the festivals mostly relate to crops.

Pagan festivals

Festivals are not arbitrarily made up—people gradually develop them in response to the seasons, the environment, and their mythology. But they are created by people.

So if you’re out there dismissing Kwanzaa or Juneteenth because they were created within living memory: all festivals were created at some point.

The solstices and equinoxes are celebrated in many cultures, and the solstices have been celebrated for thousands of years, but the festivals created in response to them are created anew by each culture, and they develop over time. Different versions of Christmas have been created in different cultures and historical periods, depending on what was inportant to people at the time.

Kwanzaa was created in response to a specific need, at a specific cultural moment, the same as all the different versions of Christmas and Yuletide that have been created.

People need to rest, play together, celebrate together, create shared experiences, memories, and meaning. Festivals are ideal for this. We need community — and community emerges from shared experiences, meaning, and values.