Holidays and Holy Nights: Celebrating Twelve Seasonal Festivals of the Christian Year

by Christopher Hill

For many people the chaos of fifty-hour workweeks and the demands of family have created a hectic, routine-driven life. Time itself becomes a conveyor belt moving us continuously from one demand to the next and year-to-year. Holidays and Holy Nights offers an escape from the conveyor-belt life and introduces us to the cyclical and deeply spiritual Christian liturgical year. This joyous book "unpacks" theology to uncover the poetic, symbolic, folkloric, psychological, and mystical nature of the liturgical year. Moving through the four seasons, Hill discusses holidays such as the Feast of Michaelmas, Halloween, Advent, Christmas Eve, Easter Vigil, and the Transfiguration. After evoking the experience of the seasons/festivals, Hill shows how they developed in history, theology, and folklore. He then offers specific suggestions for participating more deeply in the seasons, for Christians and non-Christians alike. Holidays and Holy Nights is a guide for all spiritual seekers looking for ritual and a way to create “sacred time” in our own lives, inspiring us to practice festival as a form of high fun or reverential play.

Genres: Religion, Christianity

216 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 2003

About the author

Christopher Hill has written about rock and roll music and other topics in the pages of Spin, Record Magazine, International Musician, Chicago Magazine, Downbeat, Deep Roots Magazine, and other national and regional publications. His work has been anthologized in The Rolling Stone Record Review. He is the author of Holidays and Holy Nights, about the connection between the natural year and traditional rituals. Currently a contributing editor at Deep Roots Magazine, he is at work on a new book about David Lean's epic film, Lawrence of Arabia. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

Reviews

[Min · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book draws one in to the rhythm of the year. The cycle that plays itself again, and again, year upon year; and the Church punctuates those seasons with meaning, and complexity. The alchemy that liturgy and the dance of nature working together, giving depth and meaning to each other.

Each chapter is structure into several parts to engage the reader into finding the melody to join in the rhythm, and music of the year. First, of three parts, is the Experience- remind one of the marks of the seasons that evoke the story being told, suggests ways that the themes, images, and rites can be unfolded, savored, and reflected on, lived with. Second is the Story that gives the origin and development of the day; liturgically, and the folk customs. Third is Entering the Season suggests ways to enter into the Sacred Time, incorporating its meaning in daily life.

The Liturgical Year begins with Advent, this work begins early, in Fall, on 29 September Michaelmas; Feast of All Angels/ Bodiless Powers.

The language is beautifully poetic in the Experience portion. It is filled with evocative imagery for meditation, and path-working. Lyrically esoteric in how the text strives to pull the reader into the Mystery. The author references, and often quotes, Christian mystics and contemplatives "who hunger and thirst to experience the restored presence now" to show others how to see with unfallen eyes the majestic beauty, and intimate closeness we have to the Divine all around, and within us. Starkly contrasting with the mentality of sackcloth and ashes to turn away from all that is naturally human, as the only means to find union to the spiritual.

The Story section offers well-researched , and incisive insight into when, and where this feast began, and the myriad ways it has been celebrated through the centuries.
Entering the Season offers meditative, and playful ideas to keep the meaning of the tide present in the mind through activities (some for children are also thoughtfully included), music, and reading.

Published by Quest Books, Theosophical Publishing House explains the clear and constant slant to mystic ideology, while also being firmly grounded in liturgical Christian Mysteries.

[Kenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been looking for ways to live more artfully with the seasons, and this book gave me lots to think about. In each chapter, the author describes the experience of the holiday, how the "liturgy and rhythms of nature work an alchemy together, giving depth and meaning to each other." Next is the history of each holiday, how it grew from both Christian practice and non-Christian folk customs. The section on incorporating meaning into a seasonal celebration or practice is the shortest, because the author encourages us to make the holidays our own, building them into our own family traditions. Sometimes music or readings are suggested, and I wish there was more of this, especially because the author is also a rock critic.
This book covers the holidays/nights of Michaelmas, Halloween/All Saints/Faithful Departed, St. Andrew's Day, Christmas Eve, Twelfth Night/Epiphany, St. Brigid's Day, Candlemas, the Annunciation (Lady Day), Easter Vigil, Pentecost, St. John's Day, the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, and the Feast of the Transfiguration. The book also includes a chapter on the origins of the Christian year.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

"In a way, Christmas is valued disproportionately, because most people don't have a single other ritual of sacred time in the whole year to help them distribute and develop the meaning of Christmas." p. 80

This book is an exploration of the traditional liturgical year. The book explores the history of the holidays, their significance in the human psyche, and traditional celebrations. At the end of each section he does give some suggestions of things to do, but this is not the focus of this book and there are many other books that would be better if that is what you are looking for.

The book talks extensively about ancient traditions from not just Judaism and the Eastern Rite churches, but from the Greek and Roman World and the British Isles. The focus of the book is Jesus and his ministry, but if you dislike Halloween because you perceive it to be a pagan holiday then don't read this book. Nearly every holiday is a fusion of ancient religous practices and christian belief.

for the most part i liked this book. It had a great deal of interesting information. The author has really thought about the liturgical year and its significance. I especially liked how he embraced the natural world as part of his explanations. The section on Summer, filled with Ordinary time, was especially good. the importance of Ordinary time tends to get over looked which he acknowledges and gives reasonable explanations for.

my biggest complaint is his argument style. In several places instead of making a well reasoned argument for his point, he strings together some sentances that are only tangentially related. And while i understood the point he was trying to make, i wish he would have been a little less obtuse. the section on February was especially difficult for me to follow.

[Alicia Shafer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for a book with some ideas about celebrating the Christian year. This more explained the seasons and there meanings and general spirit. This would be a good book if that was more what you are interested in.

[Frostik Dar · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gem of a book, first spotted in the fable Quest Bookstore on Capitol Hill -- and published by Quest Books in Wheaton. Hill's rich essay on the Great Vigil of Easter is worth the price alone. Lots of cool pictures as well.