Abby Quillen

Freelance Content Marketing Writer and Editor

Celebrations

Celebrate the First Day of Fall

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 “How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days.” -John Burroughs

Saturday is the first day of fall. I must confess that my feelings about this time of year have shifted rather dramatically. I used to delight in everything about fall – crunchy leaves, red apples, the start of school. But now that I share my days with two little ones, fall does not not hold quite the same appeal. I love summer with kids – gardening and running through the sprinkler and throwing the doors wide open in the evenings — so it’s hard to say goodbye to it. But, ready or not, fall has arrived. Here are a few simple ideas to observe the change in season:

  • Reflect:

Do we subconsciously tip waiters more on sunny days? So says Leonard Mlodinow  in Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Life. And changes in the weather probably affect us in countless other ways that we’re barely aware of.

If you have some time this season to reflect on our relationship with nature and how closely our emotional states mirror the “capricious, moody earth itself”, I recommend David Abram’s mind-bending long-form essay “Air Aware,” which I read in Orion three years ago and still think about all the time. Here’s an excerpt:

If our sense of inward confusion and muddledness is anciently and inextricably bound up with our outward experience of being enveloped in a fog—if our whole conceptualization of the emotional mood or “feel” of things is unavoidably entwined with metaphors of “atmospheres,” “airs,” and “climates”—then it is hardly projection to notice that it is not only human beings (and human-made spaces) that carry moods: that the living land in which we dwell, and in whose life we participate, has its own feeling-tone and style that varies throughout a day or a season.

  • Read:

What better way to celebrate cooler weather than with a stack of fall-themed library books? Here are a few of my family’s favorite autumn picture books:

  • Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White
  • Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert
  • Autumn is for Apples by Michelle Knudsen
  • Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell
  • Fall is Not Easy by Marty Kelly
  • It’s Fall! by Linda Glaser.

It’s also fun to read aloud from The Autumn Equinox by Ellen Jackson, which educates on different modern and historical cultural traditions celebrating the day.

Looking for adult reads to help you wile away the cooler days? Check out some of the season’s new releases.

  • Eat:

Fall is a time of abundance where I live: bushels of sun-ripened tomatoes, every variety of squash . . . and pumpkins. Here’s a recipe that will bring some of the best tastes and scents of fall into your kitchen.

Pumpkin Bread

  • 1 and 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup pumpkin, baked and mashed
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon cloves
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup olive oil or butter
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • a handful of walnuts or raisins (optional)

Mix and pour into an oiled bread pan. Bake for 50 minutes to an hour. Test with a tooth pick. Cool and enjoy.

(Thanks to my friend Craig, who generously shared this recipe with me several years ago, including all of his healthy twists.)

Wishing you a happy first day of fall. You can find many more ways to celebrate the season here.

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Happy May Day

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When I was a kid, every May 1, I accompanied a friend’s family in their festivities. We made homemade baskets, filled them with flowers, hung them on neighbors doorknobs, and ran away. Since it wasn’t my family’s tradition, I never understood why or what we were celebrating.

It turns out that May Day was traditionally a pagan holiday practiced throughout Europe in honor of the end of the dormant winter months. Festivities varied from country to country, but dancing around a Maypole with ribbons or streamers has been a common activity in modern times.

May Day is a simple, fun, and earth-friendly way to celebrate the beginning of spring and share some of your blooms, plants, seeds, or handicrafts with your neighbors. Want some inspiration for homemade baskets? Check out these resources:

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10 Ways to Take Back the Holidays

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“Oh, for the good old days when people would stop Christmas shopping when they ran out of money.”  ~Author Unknown

By now, we’ve all probably seen and heard news stories like this:

  • Holiday Season Gets Off to a Good Start
  • It’s Going to Be a Merry Christmas for Retail
  • Holiday Shopping Spree Good News for the Economy

At some point, we started equating the holidays with heading out to the mall for a shopping frenzy. The average American plans to spend $714 on gifts this month. All too often, the recipients of these presents don’t need them, and we can’t really afford them. And along the way, the holidays became known for two things: stress and debt.

Christmas was magical when I was a kid. We went to my grandparents and opened presents under the tree, then we played and ate for the rest of the day. I loved getting gifts. But what I loved more was that the day had meaning. It wasn’t like any other day. Many of the things I remember most about the holidays cost almost nothing – handmade advent calendars, stringing popcorn and cranberries, making ornaments out of dough, and playing with my cousins.

This year, I’m on a mission to make the holidays debt-and-stress free – and magical. If you’re feeling the same way, here are 10 ideas to take back your holidays from consumerism:

1.  Plan an outing to be the center of your festivities.

Go ice skating. Take a carriage ride. Or go hiking, cross country skiing, or caroling.

2.  In lieu of traditional gift giving, do a homemade gift exchange.

Agree that all presents must be homemade – baked goods, art, songs, stories, poems, or crafts.

3.  Focus on quality over quantity.

Shop at a local craft market. If you don’t have one, shop at Etsy.com. Include information about the artisans with your gifts.

4.  Exchange books.

Support authors and the spread of the written word and ideas. Looking for a greener or thriftier option than new books? Shop at a used bookstore.

5. Create some new family traditions.

Make up a board game and play it. Put on a puppet show. Draw, paint, or craft as a family. Get creative and have fun.

6. Observe the winter solstice.

Make the first day of winter a simple, festive day focused on the change of the seasons, family, and friendship. (Stay tuned for my Wednesday post all about this topic.)

7.  Revise your holiday feast.

If making a huge dinner brings more stress than satisfaction, throw a potluck or pare down your holiday fare.

8.  Take a holiday from work and tune into each other.

Spend at least a few days not thinking about or checking in with your job, if possible. Also consider a sabbatical from the Internet, Smart Phone, and whatever else distracts you from your family.

9.  Write personal letters.

Instead of sending presents to faraway friends and family, write them letters in your own handwriting.

10.  Focus on the beauty and meaning of the day.

Decorate. Play music. Light candles. Make cookies. Cuddle on the couch. Tell stories. Read together. Stay present and breathe deeply.

More ideas on taking back the holidays:

What are your ideas for making the holidays debt-and-stress free – and magical?

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Celebrate the First Day of Summer!

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live oaks

Summer solstice, or Midsummer’s Day, is June 21. It’s the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere when we enjoy the most sunlight and the shortest night. The sun rises to its maximum height, bathing the Arctic Circle – including parts of Sweden, Finland, Norway, and all of Iceland – in twenty-four hours of daylight. Ancient monuments – including Stonehenge, England; Callanish, Scotland; Macchu Picchu, Peru; Fajada Butte in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico; and Monk’s Mound in southern Illinois – align with the sun. And people around the world celebrate.

How did people historically celebrate the solstice?

Bonfires. In several countries, including Germany, bonfires were offered to the sun to promote fertility and bring bountiful harvests. Men would leap the flames and run across the embers when the fire died down.

bonfire
Staying awake. People in Japan, Britain, and Norway stayed awake until midnight or throughout the shortest night of the year to welcome the longest day at dawn. A British folk tale claimed that the spirits of those who would die during the next year roamed on this night. People stayed awake to keep their spirits from wandering.

sunrise
Sun Dances. The Native American plains tribes, including the Arapahoe, Sioux, Ute, and Blackfoot tribes, threw elaborate religious ceremonies around the time of the solstice. The celebrations lasted from four to eight days. Many honored the buffalo and included singing, drumming, and dancing, and often fasting, prayer, visions, and acts of self-torture.

Gathering plants. In Denmark, women gathered herbs on the solstice, including St. John’s Wort, which got its name because it flowers around the time of St. John’s Day (June 24). If St. John’s Wort was picked and dried at Midsummer, it was said to chase away the winter blues when ingested later in the year.

St. John’s Eve festivals. Many countries, including Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Norway, Finland, and Sweden have traditionally celebrated Midsummer two days after the solstice on St. John’s Eve. Near Helsinki, Finland, modern people gather on this day to watch Finnish folk dances, listen to traditional songs, light bonfires, and participate in rowing races.

What are the benefits of celebrating the first day of each season?

Seasonal celebrations give you and your family the opportunity to:

  • Note the cyclical changes in the soil, sky, trees, plants, and wildlife.
  • Reflect on the uniqueness of each season.
  • Reflect on the lessons each season imparts. The bounties of summer are endless – light, warmth, and lush crops. Nature is at her peak, but the solstice also marks the returning darkness.
  • Read about different celebrations around the world.
  • Celebrate! Seasonal celebrations are affordable, nature-based, and as easy or elaborate as you want them to be.
  • Be grateful for the gifts of food, family, and friendship.

Create some summer traditions this year!

The first day of summer is a great time to start some new family traditions. Pick activities that you’ll want to do year after year, and ones that will make the day relaxing and special for you and your family. Here are a few ideas:

  1. Establish a table-top, shelf, or mantel to display a seasonal tableau. On the first day of summer, replace the spring decorations with seashells, sand dollars, flowers, a baseball, photographs from summer trips, or whatever symbolizes summer in your family.seashell
  2. Collect books about the seasons at yard sales, used-book stores, and thrift shops year-round. Choose a special basket or shelf for them, and change them out on the first day of each season. Or take a trip to the library a few days before your celebration. Some of my family’s favorite summer picture-books are: Before the Storm by Jan Yolen, Summertime Waltz by Nina Payne, Canoe Days by Gary Paulsen,  Sun Dance Water Dance by Jonathan London, Summer is Summer by Phillis and David Gershator, and Under Alaska’s Midnight Sun by Deb Venasse
  3. Place a bouquet of roses, lilies, or daisies in your kids’ bedrooms while they sleep, so they wake up to fresh summer flowers.
  4. Trace each other’s shadows throughout the day to note the sun’s long trip across the sky.
  5. Find a special place outside to observe both the sunrise and sunset. Eat breakfast outside after the sun rises.
  6. Go on a nature hike. Bring along guidebooks to help you identify birds, butterflies, mushrooms, or wildflowers.
  7. Make a summer feast. Eat exclusively from your garden or the farmer’s market to celebrate the bounties of summer in your area. You could also host a “locavore” potluck.
  8. Turn off all the indoor lights, light some candles and eat dinner outside, then play games, watercolor, or decorate the sidewalks with chalk until bedtime.
  9. Read aloud from The Summer Solstice by Ellen Jackson.
  10. Read aloud, watch, or put on your own rendition of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. For kids, check out: A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Kids by Lois Burdett or Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Kids: 3 melodramatic plays for 3 group sizes by Brendan P. Kelso.

Or create your own traditions to welcome summer this June 21. Hopefully you’ll be celebrating for years to come.

Mark your 2010 Calendars

Autumn Equinox – September 22
Winter Solstice – December 21

Resources:

  • The Book of the Year: A Brief History of Our Seasonal Holidays by Anthony F. Aveni
  • Ceremonies of the Seasons by Jennifer Cole
  • The Summer Solstice: Celebrating the Journey of the Sun from May Day to Harvest by Caitlin Matthews
  • Celebrate the Solstice by Richard Heinberg
  • Together: Creating Family Traditions by Rondi Hillstrom Davis and Janell Sewall Oakes
  • The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule

(Originally posted on June 15, 2009.)

Do you observe the summer solstice? I’d love to hear how you celebrate!

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Celebrate the First Day of Winter!

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December 21 is the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. Locales above the Arctic Circle, including parts of Canada, Alaska, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Greenland, and the very northern tip of Iceland will experience 24 hours of total darkness. You can find out when the sun will rise and set where you live here.

Winter was a long, dark, and difficult time for many of our forebears. The solstice provided an opportunity for people to celebrate the return of more daylight.

How did ancient people celebrate?

Gift-giving

The ancient Romans exchanged candles and other gifts during Saturnalia, their week-long solstice celebration.

Role-switching

In Persia, the king changed places with one of his subjects on the winter solstice, and the subject was crowned during an elaborate street party.

In Rome, masters and servants switched roles; senators wore simple, rather than elaborate togas; men sometimes dressed as women; fights and grudges were forgotten; and other everyday conventions were put aside.

Candle-lighting

In England and Scandinavia, people lit a Yule log, or oak branch, which was often replaced by a large candle that burned throughout the day.

Bonfires

Japanese Shinto farmers lit fires on the mountain sides to welcome back the sun.

Mistletoe and Evergreen Trees

The British Celts put mistletoe on their altars. And the Germans and Romans decorated their houses with evergreen trees, wreaths, and garlands as a symbol of life and renewed fertility.

Sun Festivals

The Hopi celebrated the return of the sun with ceremonies. Priests dressed in animal skins with feathers in their head-dresses to look like the rays of the sun.

Why celebrate the first day of winter?

The holiday season is busy enough for most of us. Why add anything else to the to-do list?

Well, celebrating the first day of each season has many benefits. It offers the perfect opportunity to:

  • Note the cyclical changes in the soil, sky, trees, plants, and wildlife.
  • Reflect on the lessons each time of year imparts. Winter, for example, reminds us of the importance of quiet, rest, and dormancy.
  • Learn about different celebrations around the world.
  • Celebrate! And seasonal celebrations are affordable, nature-based, and as easy or elaborate as you want them to be.
  • Be grateful for the gifts of food, family, and friendship.

The key to celebrating the first day of winter, when most of us are busy planning other celebrations, is to keep it simple, and choose traditions that give you time to relax and reflect.

Some ideas:

  • Establish a table-top, shelf, or mantel to display a seasonal tableau. On the first day of winter, replace the fall decorations with evergreen boughs, pine cones, candles, mistletoe, or whatever symbolizes fall in your family.
  • Collect books about the seasons at yard sales, used-book stores, and thrift shops year-round. Choose a special basket or shelf for them, and change them out on the first day of each season. Or take a trip to the library a few days before your celebration. Some of my family’s favorite winter picture-books are: Stella, Queen of the Snow by Mary-Louise Gay; The Big Snow by Berta Hader; The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats; A Kitten Tale by Eric Rohmann; Snow by Cynthia Rylant; Winter is the Warmest Season by Lauren Stringer; and Owl Moon by Jane Yolen.
  • Read aloud from The Winter Solstice by Ellen Jackson.
  • Go for a nature walk or go cross-country skiing, and enjoy the brisk air and winter scenery.
  • Watch the sun rise and set.
  • Make a seasonal feast, with foods like beets, winter squash, potatoes, onions, kale, cabbage, or parsnips.
  • Eat by candlelight.
  • Blow out the candles and turn off the lights after dinner, sit together quietly, and experience and reflect on darkness.
  • Share one thing you’ve lost and one thing you’ve gained over the past year.
  • Bring an evergreen bough inside and make it into a wishing tree. Secure the bough in a bucket with rocks. Cut leaves out of green construction paper. Have each person write down a wish for the coming year on each leaf. Hang the leaves on the tree using a hole punch and yarn or ribbon.
  • Sit around the fire and tell stories about your best and worst holiday memories.

Resources:

The Winter Solstice by John Matthews
The Book of the Year: A Brief History of Our Seasonal Holidays by Anthony aveni
Celebrate the Solstice by Richard Heinberg
Ceremonies of the Seasons by Jennifer Cole
The Winter Solstice by Ellen Jackson

Do you already celebrate the first day of winter? I’d love to hear about your traditions.