Rituals

When I was growing up, my mother prepared herself and the family for the new year by thoroughly cleaning the house, having us all take evening baths and dress in our best clothes to welcome in the new year.  There were other traditions for New Years Eve as well, but this part sticks with me after all these years - the idea was to start the new year clean, with a fresh slate.

My husband and I have welcomed the new year with a different tradition for the past 22 years; sharing the same seafood meal for our New Year's Eve dinner, and going to our cottage for lunch and a walk on the Lake Michigan beach on New Year's Day, remembering not only the past year, but the preceding years and experiences as well.

As much as my mother reveled in the idea of a clean start, we revel in the repetition, the remembrance of past years as we welcome the coming year.   Her rituals were based on cultural traditions; ours are based on the second chance at life and family we experienced 22 years ago, an affirmation of life and the strength of our relationship. We look forward to the new, the unexpected, the unknown, and face it with the strength gained from past shared experiences.  

Rituals can be affirming, comforting, challenging; what rituals do you observe, and how do they reflect your personality, your life, your hopes and dreams?