Thank you for the link to Peter's thought on the matter. Peter wrote: "Each of these rituals has a crucial secular import - the ritual helps to remind us that this event is an important milestone in our lives and those of people special to us; that it is worth marking and celebrating." I don't think that any event, no matter how important, should be made into a ritual. Take this for example. My grandfather died on the 9th February 19??. He was probably the most important man in my life, because I grew up without a father. I may have made a mental note of this day, but I do not feel I need to grieve every year on this day. In fact, when this day comes along I will probably not even think of his death. Other people it seems, like Peter, need to do something on these days to remind himself of who he is! (Maybe visit someone at the cemetery). I do not need reminders. The event remains in the past and may have changed my behaviour now and in the future. Take another example. Yes, I probably am happy on my birthday, when my children treat me special, or different. But on the other hand I know that they have changed their behaviour not because of me, but because someone has led them to believe that this is the thing to do on this day. I much rather prefer them to treat me the way they really want to treat me, and not to put on a false pretence. Children do not create any rituals. Adults brainwash children into creating rituals and then they adopt this into their adulthood. Peter writes: " Done properly, these events should peak to our souls - if they don't, they ain't being done properly." Who says that we have a soul? Sorry that's another debate! How does one do this properly? Is there a specific procedure that one can follow? Like a build-up before the event. - Something like an advents calendar? Regi, I think that you're onto it. You say: " Those of us who have a life find all these artificial dates, seasons, and rituals intrusions on our time, life, and resources. They are a kind of theft. For the rest, the artificial is their life. They are thieves, promoting activities that intrude on the lives of others, because it "means something to them."" Those days like the, Queens Birthday, Waitangi Day, Ansett Day etc, etc are an intrusion to my business and me. I feel that no man should be forced to close down his day of survival because the government says it's a holiday. Not only do they create a loss of your daily trade, but also then you are forced to pay your staff for a day's work, where nothing was done! Do humans really need to have repetitive rituals?
|