Rituals (Xmas)

Rituals have such a bad connotation nowadays.  When I say (write) the word ritual, what’s the first thing that pops in your head?  For me, I get the sense of over-used, trite, lifeless.  Tired is often an adjective that gets lumped in with ritual, much like fiery temper or stony silence.  Tired rituals.  It’s become a cliché now.  And when people suggest doing something that’s been done before, instead of saying “It sucks”, they would say, “That’s so ritualized now”.  Well, probably not the common man, but, maybe common English majors?  

But rituals aren’t a bad thing.  Rituals have a sense of tradition, a feeling of history.  When the ritual first began, it held some importance to a group of people.  That’s how they start at any rate.  For example, when I say Independence Day, what comes into your head?  Fireworks, hotdogs, family barbeques…  But if you said the same thing to people in 1800’s, what do you think they would think of?  Fireworks, sausages, witch burnings… whoops, just kidding!  No, they probably would think, boy it’s great to be free of those pesky English!  This is a great day to celebrate our freedom!  Then the Easterners would paint their faces in blue paint and wear skirts with no underwear.  I might be getting it mixed up with the Scottish, but y’know, same difference.

Let’s look at another more important ritual.  Christmas.  Malls, sales, crowds, jostling with every one to get into the paying line.  Santa Claus sitting in the chair taking pictures, Santa Claus in the movies, Santa Claus outside the store ringing that bell with a red bucket on a tripod.  There’s the incessant rushing around to various Christmas parties, the Christmas dancing, the Christmas plays.  Shopping in a crowded mall with thousands of kids screaming all at the tops of their lungs while Christmas music blares into your eardrums and the wild festive colors of red and green assault the senses.  It’s enough to drive anyone insane, no wonder people are fed up with that holiday season.  It’s gotten so bad, that people actually start dreading the holiday season.  I’m one of them.

Christmas as a ritual, is a “Bad thing”.  But then, if you see it as a contemporary ritual, you are missing the point.  Rituals are all about the original intent.  If you look past the gifts, eggnog and cheer, you’ll see something that is most basic and fundamental.  It’s about the birth of salvation.  If you perform a ritual from the heart, that’s a “Good Thing”.  And that’s what we forget.  When we perform a ritual, don’t just go through the motions.  Remember why we are celebrating it in the first place.  In this case, live in the past.  Feel the way the pioneers of that tradition felt when they started it.  This just doesn’t apply to Christmas either.  Easter, Thanksgiving, Independence Day, even President’s and Veteran’s Day.  They are all rituals that celebrate something important, and if you don’t know what that is, then maybe you should take the time to look it up.  Rituals don’t also have to be holidays either.  There’s the ritual, or rite, of the sacrament, of baptism, of marriage.  Do you ever say those are tired traditions?  

If you do, then maybe it’s time to stop doing it, and reflect why it is you are doing it.  Trust me, I don’t think the Church or God will be offended.