Going Back: Rituals

I get 3 new years every year. It’s one of my go-to perks of having a mixed background. Each of them feels very different to me. Chinese New Year is the big production: it’s cooking and cleaning and feasting with friends and family. Rosh Hashanah is the most sacred: I’ve been to services a handful of times in my life, but even when I don’t go to services there’s blessings and candles – along with challah and apples and honey and brisket. Then Gregorian New Year is the cultural phenomenon: TV hosts and champagne and charcuterie. Plus it happens at midnight. I enjoy having 3 new years per year. For one thing, it gives me three times as many opportunities to notice and celebrate the fact that we have this cycle of years. It’s a beautiful part of humanity that we build our lives over regular intervals, which we mark with rituals like new year celebrations. Some of the cycles we use come to us from nature – like days, years, and sometimes lunar months. But there are also cycles we basically…