We just returned from a beautiful holiday in Santa Fe, New Mexico.\u00a0 It was literally glowing with all the lights that decorated the plaza, churches, and homes throughout the city.\u00a0 One of the many activities that happen during the season there is what they call the “Faralito” walk.\u00a0 We know them as luminarias but the literal translation is “little lantern”. Basically a path of “faralitos” (which you see everywhere) line the road up Canyon Drive where all the shop keepers, gallery owners, and various businesses have bonfires, hot cocoa or hot mulled wine and cookies.\u00a0 There are carolers everywhere and it is really quite magical.<\/p>\n
It got me thinking about how important light is during the season of darkness.\u00a0 \u00a0For thousands of years, people have held festivals of lights.\u00a0 Some help brighten the winter and yet others welcome the spring.\u00a0 In Brazil people dress in white and head to the beach to sing songs to Lemanja, African goddess of waters, to ask for good fortune in the coming year.\u00a0 In India, during Diwali (the Hindu festival of lights), people put out lanterns to welcome Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and good fortune.<\/p>\n
One of my favorite celebrations is called the Loy Krathong which is a festival of floating lights in Thailand.\u00a0 Using paper banana leaves people make bowls in the shape of lotus blossoms and fill them with incense, flowers, and candles.\u00a0 They set the krathongs afloat on lakes, canals and rivers to give thanks to Me Khongkha, the mother of waters.\u00a0 It is a symbol seen as waving goodbye to misfortune, washing away sins of the past year, and making wishes for the coming year.<\/p>\n
What all these celebrations have in common, and there are many, is the human experience. We may celebrate differently but our hopes and dreams are the same.\u00a0 My great hope for 2019 is that we can all share our own light and bring peace and joy to this world that we all inhabit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We just returned from a beautiful holiday in Santa Fe, New Mexico.\u00a0 It was literally glowing with all the lights that decorated the plaza, churches, and homes throughout the city.\u00a0 One of the many activities that happen during the season there is what they call the “Faralito” walk.\u00a0 We know them as luminarias but the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2066,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[43,46,47,48],"class_list":["post-2067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog_category","tag-100-reasons-to-celebrate","tag-celebrate","tag-light","tag-season-of-light"],"yoast_head":"\n