(Submitted by the author)
Traditionally, all communities gathered at least four times a year. Ritual gathering can re-attune a community to its core-note. Seasonal celebrations are not only about planting or harvesting. They are also about an archetypal intrapsychic cycle. Just as our moods can respond to sunshine and cloud cover, somehow we respond to the moods of the seasons. Just as nature pulls itself into itself in winter, in the darkness of winter we ourselves are re-conceived.
We are not just visitors on this planet, it belongs to us as we belong to her, its past is ours, so is its future.
Amin Maalouf, Lebanon
