out and about
Season of Light
Transforming Darkness With a Cozy Glow
G
rowing up, my agnostic, patchwork family had a tough time figuring out which holiday to celebrate. Some years it was Christmas; some years it was Hanukkah. And if I were particularly lucky, we celebrated both. But it wasn’t the gifts that I remember—except for a treasured Mickey Mouse watch. It was the lights. The centerpiece of every Hanukkah is the menorah with its eight candles for eight nights of illumination, plus a special one to light them all. The quest for light in times of darkness has been a human impulse ever since humans first harnessed flame yet still wondered where it came from. As a species dependent on vision and on artificial warmth to compensate for bare skin, few things resonate more than light. It symbolizes safety, knowledge, advancement, and even joy—critical attributes, particularly when intertwined with spirituality. If there’s a religion that doesn’t equate light with divine presence or inner enlightenment, it’s news to me. Christians light votive and memorial candles in churches. Jews light candles to welcome the sabbath. Buddhist and Hindu
By Andrew Blechman
shrines incorporate candles. The holiday Diwali, celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and some Buddhists, is a festival of light, as is Kwanzaa—an African American holiday that celebrates African heritage across seven nights of candle lighting. And the symbolism of illuminating the darkness is not limited to things spiritual. The word enlightenment is synonymous with scientific progress, i.e., the Age of Enlightenment. In popular culture, a great epiphany is often equated with a lightbulb, or flash of light. At our best, our democracy is referred to as a beacon of light, which equates with hope. For those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere, festive lights and candles are associated with celebrating the winter solstice holidays. Their warm cozy glow resides so prominently in our memories that many of us dream of winter light displays and snug hearths even amid summer’s lushness. On a personal note, my teen daughter recently returned to the Berkshires, the place of her birth, after living in Germany for fifteen years. As I write in advance of the holiday season, she is already talking about Christmas decorations. It will be a daunting task to approach the holiday traditions of Central Europe,
Above and opposite right: Springfield’s Bright Nights at Forest Park. Opposite left: Winterlights at Naumkeag.
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