A New Year

One of the wonderful, perplexing and enjoyable experiences of working in different parts of Asia is experiencing not only the timing but the variety of festivals that exist. When working in India, my expat colleagues and I used to joke how we could enjoy at least four or five New Year celebrations, beginning with Deepavali in India, the Christian New Year at year end, The Tamil New Year in January (at the time we were based in Tamil Nadu), and the Chinese New Year sometime in between late January and late March depending on the moon. As amusing as this all sounds, it does bring to mind the idea that there is chance for a new beginning every year. We could choose one of the new years I mentioned above (and I am sure there are others), I could choose my birthday, which is also the start of a new year. I could simply choose a day, any day, that when I awake, I am facing a new year from that day forward.

Of course, we could easily look at all these "new years" as an excuse to take rest from work. And that too is enjoyable. On the other hand, many if not all these new years were based on earlier, and often forgotten, intimate relationship between humanity and the stars, where humanity was moved as much by the rhythm of the heavens as by humanity's biological needs. Over time, the sense that humanity has lost this connection seems ever more palpable as celebrations for each new year, each festival, seems to be performed for the economic value that it brings to others and less with an understanding of why we even celebrate them.

The Christian year is coming to its start soon, to its own New Year. This is beginning of the cycle of Christian festivals that are celebrated throughout the year. This is not about the feast days of saints or other such events; this is about the cycle of festivals that somehow remind us, when we choose to be reminded, of the life-changing, earth-changing events of the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ.

Other ancient folklore carry myths of gods visiting the earth in human form. Hindu myths speak of this, even the rather active Greek gods, often ventured onto earth to muddle with the lives of ordinary people - just ask Leda. As a Christian, however, I follow the story of Christ's life on earth as the guide of my new year.

As I understand it, the new year, meaning the start of the festival cycle for Christians, begins with Michaelmas, the festival of the Archangel Michael which is on 29 September. It is hard to image why this is the beginning of the Christian festival year; after all, Michael is that archangel that generally appears poised to slay a serpent, spear or sword in one hand, scales in another. What does this all have to do with the beginning of the Christian festival year? I too have asked my self that question many times. After all, Michael does not appear prominently at any time that Christ was on earth... or at least I don't recall. And what is this whole image of the serpent or dragon, the spear or sword, and the scales? Somehow in my musings on this, it led to me why the Christ even came to earth. This has often been a question for me. So I thought, perhaps there must be a lesson in all.Yes, that's it... a lesson.

How do lessons work? Normally, on the first day of class, there would be a lecture of some sort, some question and answer, and then some assignments. The next time we meet, there would also be some form of review, formal, e.g. quiz, test, etc or informal, general discussion with the teacher.  After this review period, then the lecture on the new content would begin. Could it be possible that somehow, the festivals and their sequence work like a lesson, i.e there is a review, then a new lecture, some question and answers, an assignment, and then a repeat of the sequence? Perhaps this would help me explain why Michaelmas or the festival of the Archangel Michael is the first in the Christian year.

In many ways, the imagery of  Michael, as described above, does contain elements that need to remind me, and perhaps all of humanity why we are even on earth. We have a serpent. The last time we encountered this, it was not a good ending for either Adam or Eve. Because of this serpent, Adam and Eve were expelled from Garden Eden. There is the sword or even Michael himself, the guardian of the Tree of Life which is at the moment, out of humanity's grasp. So could it be that Michaelmas just like any class or learning sessions, is actually a review for humanity of how we came to be on earth, falling from our heavenly origins. Perhaps we could look at it like a test to see if we remember why we are earth and what we need to do to get the "right answers" to this test. Perhaps this is also why images of Michael are open to interpretation; e.g. is he going to slay the serpent or not; why is his face so calm and collected at a moment that could be of extreme violence? We may only guess at the possible answer to these questions. Perhaps that is the point, to make us ponder the not only on why were are on earth, but also to ponder on the events yet to come, the birth, life, death and resurrection of the Christ on earth.

I started with the idea of a new year. A year is a particular rhythm based on the earth's journey around the sun; a journey that is repeated with regularity as the earth reaches a point in space where it was 365 days earlier. This is every point on the ellipse that the earth traces around the sun. And we never ponder this. Michaelmas is a specific time to remind of certain mysteries we encounter daily that confront us, open to interpretation. This reminds us we are free to choose our destiny, a destiny where the serpent or dragon may triumph, or a destiny where Michael triumphs. It reminds us of why we are on earth, and what earth is for. Let us look to beginning the new year with this review of humanity's origins.