Sancta Lucia

Every year on December 13th Sancta Lucia is celebrated in Sweden. When I was a child every girl wanted to be Lucia or at least I think they did. It was usually the tallest and the one with long hair.
I was Lucia once in the laundry room of our apartment block! A big deal for me!
They sing songs in their heavenly voices and it is all about bringing light into the darkness and to fill us with hope again.
My sister sang beautifully and she was usually in the school choir and they would be the other girls dressed in white as well walking behind the Lucia and then surrounding her when they arrived.
After we would get saffron buns, ginger snaps and hot beverages.
It brings tears to my eyes. Lucia IS Christmas to me.

More nostalgia

Scandinavians have an emotional connection to snow and the fact that it keeps on returning year after year to blanket everything in white fluffy white.
The world transforms and for a while one sees it all differently. Tree silhouettes dark against white, homes with caps and coats, and it is all soft and may be wet too and cold but soft. The edges are softened.
It is that which we connect with, the soft and the light. During the darkest months of the year the snow falls and the world becomes a lighter place.
I get excited whenever it snows and my mood lightens and I feel a child stirring within.

Advent

This time of every year I get this longing inside. With Advent, Lucia and the Solstice
I get a serious case of nostalgia.
I remember the Swedish winters of my childhood.
Making snow angels especially with the first big snowfall. Snowball lanterns with candles to light up the dark. Having hot cocoa with whipped cream and saffron buns.
Lighting the Advent candles. Opening the Advent calendar, one window each day.
Stars shining in the windows of people's homes. Candles lit in every home.
Then Lucia the big event of Dec! It is so beautiful the songs and the young women dressed in white with candles.
They really make the most of Christmas/Jul in Scandinavia. The whole month of Dec is practically filled with celebration. It is all about LIGHT and bringing it back.

Volatile times

The calm before the storm, Mumbai

Listening or looking at the news on a daily basis leaves me in a state of flux.
These are volatile times. Cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe and riots in Greece for instance.
The chaos in the world reflects the state of the planet in terms of its over all health. On pretty much every front we need to respond and change our way of life.
Change is a common denominator in the solution area. We have problems to deal with and we need to soon or it could be too late.
Change and evolution is the axiom of our existence.
I personally am confused and overwhelmed. I feel bombarded with information and not enough sense of appropriate action to take.
"Stop talking, start doing" is a motto banded about however how do we make intelligent and informed decisions in our own lives where change ultimately starts.
Trust is an important issue in this situation. Trusting the source, trusting the research, trusting the solutions offered...
The news is something that really gets me down. It is almost exclusively "bad" news.
Murder, disasters, war news, illness,...it leaves me feeling so sad.
There is "good" news out there too I know. I wish we could have time spent on the positive events that take place also. People helping each other, all the voluntary work done in the world, simple random acts of kindness, love of animals, major discoveries that can help with eco problems...
This kind of news can make us feel inspired and hopeful!
I wish for a dose of good news every day!

The colour Red

School children in Taiwan.