In the ancient world, holidays (literally, “holy days“) and festivals were set-apart times of the year in which we could turn conventions upside down and shake ourselves out of our old routines. This cleansed us, renewed us, and allowed us to re-focus our efforts and re-dedicate ourselves to our lives and to the people around us.

I dislike going off on one of those “but in modern times, that’s all shot to hell thanks to consumerism” type of rants, so I won’t. Suffice it to say, that as publicly-shared sacred times and traditions decline in importance, the individual resorts increasingly to diversionary entertainment to fill the void, and allow one to wiggle out of our own hum-drum lives into someone else’s story for a little while.

Consumerism and modern times aside though, this is what story-tellers throughout all of human times have always done for us: lead us out into realms of the imagination. Shamans and priests do the same thing on different levels, involving you directly as a character in a spiritual, religious, symbolic and mythic drama, in which you have a part to play, and, at least, a loose script to follow. Though the man on the street may not recognize it, our shamans and priests today, for better or worse, are entertainers. They guide us through ritual stories which we either play out internally as patterns or reenact through the decisions we make as citizen-consumers in the “mundane” world.

Entertainers, as a rule, though - whether in modern garb or ancient - live on the edges of the real world and the imagination. They act as bridges and guides, leading forays into the world of mystery which lies past the boundaries of day-to-day lives.

So, party hearty and enjoy the festivities and entertainment.

...because next week, you’ll wake up, go to work, talk to the same people - and your day-to-day life continues on a predictable routine of going through the motions. Unlees, of course, you decide to make some changes.

Any questions??