New Year's Day

Today is the first day of a new year in my part of the world. I celebrate many beginnings throughout my year, but January 1 has emotional importance because it’s the New Year of my childhood.

January gets its name from Janus, the two-faced Roman God of gates and doorways; it's a month to look back with reflection and forward with hope. I stand at the doorway of this coming year with my mind open and curious, without fear or judgment, and with hope for the gifts that the year will deliver.

As I stand here, I remember that not all gifts are rosy. I thank the Creator for the shadows and mysteries, and potent gifts of sadness. When I live in the reality of the moment more than in my hopes and expectations, I can receive the riches that are hidden within my most challenging experiences - the gifts of compassion, self-awareness, creativity, wisdom, patience, love, strength of character, and integrity.

Agenda for today:

1. Christmas retreat

2. Kwanzaa principles

3. Set the tone for the New Year

4. Read from "Writing and Being"

5. Eat Hoppin' John

6. Wassail my apple tree

1. Christmas retreat:

I'm celebrating the last of the 12 Days of Christmas, and we are visiting with family, but I continue to start each day with a time of reflection on themes and values to support the new year.

January is the first full month of winter, a time when everything is shrouded in mystery - the sky is gray, trees hold their buds tightly closed, and hidden seeds germinate secretly in the ground. In winter I sit inside the darkness (a cloak of comfort, or frosty blanket of snow), in a place where thoughts have no words, and the child is desired but not yet conceived.

January is when I consider the Greek injunction Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself:

• How can I know myself better? What particular aspect of myself do I want to give attention to?
• And how can I create a comfortable level of Light in the dark?

2. Kwanza principle:

The seventh and final day of Kwanzaa is dedicated to the principle of Imani (ee-MAH-nee), which is faith. On this first day of the New Year, we have faith in our ability to find unity and peace, and live with love and integrity.

3. Set the Tone for the New Year:

New Year’s Day is a chance to start fresh, with a clean slate: How I act and what I do today sets the tone for all the days that follow.

Tradition says, on New Year’s Day be nice to each other and never punish children; wear your best clothing, and don’t work too hard. Many cultures also have a custom of visiting friends and relatives early in the New Year to share food and strengthen their bonds.

It's going to be a challenge today, to set a good tone, because I'm catching an early train home!

Setting the tone for the year:

• I'll do some introspective journaling on the train to mark my intention to know myself better;
• When I get home, I will take time to notice and record the first bird I see and other signs of the season in my valley, to honor my resolution to celebrate unity with nature;
• I will take a walk, to honor my resolution to walk;
• I'm going to work on a sewing project for my grandson, in order to start the year with creativity and love;
• and in the evening I will meet with our Earthcare Support Group to share my ideas for witnessing for the earth, to honor my resolution to speak up.

4. Read "Writing and Being":

I'm reading from "Writing and Being: Embracing Your Life Through Creative Journaling," by G. Lynn Nelson (2004).

The author says in the introduction, "Writing is a healing and creative journey back to the mystery and power of our words as an instrument of creation that came latent within us at birth. It is a path with a heart."

Journaling and blogging is one way I discern my path, so I thought this would be a good study this month. I skimmed through Chapter 1, because it is an introduction to journalling, which I don't need. I've developed my own balance between the messy outpouring, the lists, and the visioning of my notebook, and my public ordering of those thoughts on my blog.

The Exploration at the end of Chapter 1 seemed like an ideal place to start the New Year, so it follows here:

Take a few minutes to close your eyes and breathe and grow quiet and watchful. Then write freely whatever thoughts, feelings or memories come along. 

Where are you now?   

• How are you feeling about yourself right now? What things about yourself do you feel good about? What things about yourself do you feel unhappy about right now? In what ways do you feel yourself changing or wanting to change? 

• How does your past feel to you? How much weight from the past do you feel you carry with you? Does your past feel light or heavy? Where is the weight of the past coming from? What are you angry about? What regrets do you have? What would you like to let go of? 

• What do you value in your life now? In what kinds of things do you find meaning, value, purpose? What matters? Who matters? 

• What are your dreams, goals, needs? In what direction do you need to go with your life? 

• What are your spiritual beliefs now? Can you articulate them? Have they changed over the years? What specific things in your life feel "spiritual"?

5. Eat Hoppin' John:

In many places legumes (beans, peas, lentils) and cooked greens (cabbage, collards, kale, or chard) are consumed at New Year's because they are symbolic of money; legumes resemble coins, and greens look like folded money. This delicious recipe comes from the American south.

We make this recipe every year from the leftover Christmas ham bone; but I'll make it in a few days, when I'm home from traveling.

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 c. dried black-eyed peas
• 1 ham bone
• 2 stalks of celery
• 1 onion
• 1 green pepper
• 1 large carrot 
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1-2 c. cooked ham, cubed
• 3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tsp. fresh or dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp. crushed red chili pepper flakes
• salt to taste
• 6-10 leaves of kale, collards, or beet greens

Yield: Serves 6 to 8-

1- Place black-eyed peas in a large soup pot over medium-high heat with the ham bone; cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until peas are tender, about 45 minutes.

2- Meanwhile, dice the celery, onion, green pepper, carrot and jalapeno. Mince the garlic. Stem and chop the greens. Cube the ham.

3- Heat oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add ham, diced vegetables (but not the greens), red chilies, thyme, and bay leaf and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 8 minutes.

4- Add black-eyed peas along with 2 c. of the cooking liquid (add more or less as desired), and the greens. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until greens are tender, about 1 hour.

5- Remove the bay leaf. Add salt to taste. Serve with cornbread or biscuits. The more you eat the larger your fortune in the coming year!

6. Wassail my apple tree:

Old apple tree in 2021

The wassail bowl is an old Gaelic tradition still observed in Scotland and Great Britain. The word wassail comes from the Old English wes hál, meaning to be whole, and it was a toast made at medieval feasts to welcome the guests. People would carry a bowl of hot cider or ale outdoors on New Year’s Eve to share with neighbors, and groups of wassailers would go door-to-door singing to get their bowls filled. 

I really loved my old apple tree, but it was aging, and we made the decision that it had to go. As I said, we rooted cuttings and now one is in Olympia with my sister, and one is with my best friend. And one is planted in our back yard; and so sometime tonight I will probably slip out to toast its life, pour some cider on its roots, and give it a "Hurra".

"Here’s to thee, old apple-tree,

Whence thou mayst bud, and whence thou mayst blow,
And whence thou mayst bear apples enow!
Hats-full! Caps-full!
Bushel, bushel sacks-full!

And my pockets full, too! Hurra!”