by Jim Highland
We’ve just finished celebrating (and surviving) the holidays! Hope they were all you wanted them to be! But was there something missing, for you, during the holiday season? While everyone was celebrating, having parties and exchanging gifts, going to religious events, musical concerts, and gatherings of family and friends, did you feel like concerns about our environment, our health and well-being, the beauty of life and the world around us got kind of…pushed back, or forgotten, in all of the hustle and bustle? For many of us, we want the earth and everything living on it to be celebrated, studied, marveled at and protected better, so that, in the midst of the holidays, we are still remembering and committing ourselves to the thriving of life on the Earth.
So, I got an idea late in December. Too late to try to get it going at that time, but something for to plan for next year’s holidays: a holiday for our environment, health, well-being. The name I have come up with is the Twelve Days for the Thriving of Life on Earth. Or the Twelve Days for Thriving…or…The Twelve Days. We’ll work that out over the next year. It is not meant to replace any of our more traditional celebrations and holidays, but to help us keep focus on our love of our environment and our commitment to protect it for ourselves, our children and all life on earth, during the December holidays.
Wait, wait, Jim! You forgot Earth Day! We’ve got Earth Day!
Yes, yes, we have Earth Day and I haven’t forgotten it. But the Twelve Days for the Thriving of Life on Earth is meant to keep us and everyone around us mindful, during a widespread time of celebration, that life on earth needs to be celebrated, revered and protected. As I said, I thought of this late, but decided to think of it as “early” by taking all of 2024 to explain and plan it out for December of 2024. This holiday would begin on the Winter Solstice (which is either December 21st or 22nd, depending on several things including if it’s a leap year), and continue for about twelve days to end on New Year’s Day. (Apparently, on rare years, it can be Dec. 20th or even Dec. 23rd, so when that happens, have a good time figuring out what to do because I’m leaving those years up to you. I’ve talked to a few other folks and we’d like to see this become something that gets bigger in the future, even if it starts small initially. A time when so many people are getting together to talk and share stories, and make resolutions for the upcoming year, is a great time for them to be thinking about how our energy use, use of household products, use and eating of food, use of just about anything has an effect on the quality of life on Earth for us, our families, pets, wildlife, and all life.
Each day of the Twelve Days for Thriving would have a distinct theme, and I’m planning to say more about each of them in the upcoming months. I’ll talk about the first theme later in this article. But one element of it that would be spread across all twelve days would be the idea of “doing without” or “fasting” during a sacred time. But while some folks “fast” from certain kinds of food, or certain activities, this “fasting” would be holding back from buying and using things detrimental to the thriving of life on earth, like single-use plastics, industrial pesticides, things with forever chemicals, and the like.
I’ve reached out to Tamela Trussell from Move Past Plastic and she has agreed to begin working with us on ways to give people some choices in how they do this “fast.” She suggested some initial ideas including an infographic with a QR code that leads people to various kinds of “fasts,” so a fast from food related items, a fast from certain clothing, from certain electronics, or toys or household goods; so that people would pick one to focus on, or two, or go all out. But since it’s just for twelve days, it’s not too burdensome. People can try it out to get into the spirit of the holiday, and it may lead people to realizing they can continue avoiding certain projects that are bad for our health and the environment throughout the year. Some folks already avoid some of these things, but now when we meet with friends and family over the holidays, we can bring it up. Do you want to be part of this environmental holiday? How about no single-use plastics for twelve days? Not too hard, right?
While the idea of an environmental “fast” would pervade the Twelve Days, there would be themes as the holiday moved towards the New Year. For each one, mostly, we would work up a song for reflection, a thought for the day, suggested readings, and a recipe for the day. Some days may be more for individual observation and practice, others for groups. Here are ideas that will be discussed and worked over in the months to come.
The Twelve Days for the Thriving of Life on Earth
Winter Solstice (Dec. 21/22): Silence and Grandeur
December 23rd: Calling
December 24th: Vision/Dream
December 25th: Life
December 26th: Unity, Respect and Justice
December 27th: Self-Determination and Dignity
December 28th: Collective Work, Responsibility
December 29th: Cooperative Economics
December 30th: Recovery of Community Purpose
December 31st: Creativity, You being You
January 1st: Faith and Love
Pretty spooky, right? This is a new holiday, and we are going to plan out the details over the year and then celebrate it and see how it goes. We can make adjustments if we need to; we probably will do just that. But this is a start. And to start this start, we start with silence and taking in the grandeur of life and the world around us.
December 21st/22nd: Silence and Grandeur
This is a time for setting aside the idle chatter, the gossip. Time to set aside doubts and fears that linger in your mind. Lull them to sleep. Time for listening, not talking, not even to yourself. You could go the day(s) of Silence and Grandeur without speaking, only writing notes or using sign language, if and when it’s really necessary to communicate in detail. Or just letting other people talk who are often talked over. Listen. What have you been missing? Learn. Get curious about what the silence can bring. Spend some time alone to decompress, to just be. Or spend time with someone but give them the space they need. No work outside your home. Go for a quiet walk. Look at the stars. Dust off one of your old James Webb telescopes from the attic or basement and be amazed at what is all around you in the universe. Most of the leaves are down for folks living in Northern places. You have avenues of sight that the Summer doesn’t allow. Take a look. Do some cleaning and preparation to get ready for spending time with others later, and in that activity be a mind of quiet peacefulness. No angry cleaning because you just want to get it over. You’re setting out a holy space from the hustle and bustle that often takes over your home. Make plenty of time for just peaceful meditation, marveling at all life and all that is around us, and joy for the thriving of life on the Earth. Things should not be done with anger or aggravation. If you can’t open a jar today, leave it closed. If you can’t remember something, just let it be. It may come to you when the time is right. Give yourself a break. Get some rest. Be like a seed in the forest for a time.
Currently, there’s no song for reflection or thought for the day for the Day of Silence and Grandeur because…this is kind of a time without thinking, without churning the mental gears. It’s more a time for becoming aware of a song you didn’t pick out. So no searching through lists or changing stations for the perfect song. There may be birds nearby; listen to their music. Or wolves. Or the wind, or even a fan someone has left on. Don’t force yourself to think or remember; just note when things come to you. Recipe for the day: For this day, it needs to be very simple. It could be a recipe like: eat an apple. Pretty simple, right? Drink some water or juice; something you don’t need to prepare, that doesn’t take more than one step to get ready. Or heat up leftovers. (So, you could plan for this and make something a bit complicated the day before; get some trail mix mixed up the night beforehand, whatever, but on this day, you’re just eating it.) If it’s from the back of the fridge or the bottom of the bag, turn on the light and make sure it’s not spoiled before you dive in. Be like a seed in the forest for a time.