The Holidays We Celebrate

Have you ever felt like there aren't enough holidays in the year? You get your birthday, a couple of bank holidays, and some stuff near the end of December. Maybe a week off, here and there, for school breaks. Doesn't that seem odd? It did to us, too.

Ancient peoples have celebrated holidays throughout the year since long before human beings started writing things down. By observing holidays, we mark the passage of time, the cycles of the seasons, the flow of our generations, and the pattern of our psyche.

We grew tired of watching the year slip by, largely unnoticed. And, we grew tired of seeing unhealthy patterns emerge with the holidays we do have.

As secular unenlightened generalists who also maintain a deep connection to what Carl Sagan would have called the "numinous" quality of life, we felt that a deeper and more intentional marking of the year was required. So, in 2023, we're embarking on a new phase of our explorations together: a bevy of holiday observances throughout the year.

How does this all work?

Katie drew up the original spine of these holidays, operating on the "in-breath/out-breath" principle. Throughout the year, there are cycles of higher and lower activity, and within these are deeper cycles of the same... all the way down to the actual breaths we take, in and out, throughout our day. We celebrate a lot of holidays from a lot of cultures, as well as some we've discovered, or even designed ourselves.

None of these holidays need to be observed in absolute depth, and the level of ritual we decide to undertake will change depending on our needs: just like it would with any other holiday. Our intention is to create ritual throughout our year so that we can better be in touch with our lives, not to add more stress.

This sounds fun, can I do it too?

Sure you can! This page will be updated with documents outlining the holidays we're observing, as well as how we're observing them. We've moved some traditional holidays, combined others, and created new ones to suit our lives! You can follow our template, or build something that works for you. The important thing is that you set the intention well beforehand and adhere to it in some small way. You want to create ritual throughout your year, and that takes commitment and patience, as well as a good sense of fun. And, of course, many holidays do best when you socialize! Bring your friend into the thick of things, or reach out to us on our social media to share your own holiday journey.

We'll post regular "end of month" wrap-up videos on our YouTube channel to talk about what we observed that month, and every month a new guide will be added to this web page with details about the holidays to come.

Index

• List of all Holidays

• January Holidays

• February Holidays (Coming Soon)