Rituals are a beautiful thing. Even though new things bring excitement, rituals ground us. They instill a familiar wonder in each heart by knowing--and anticipating--the rituals each season holds.Spring is the time of freckles beginning to dot my face and doing school outside and simple meals outside under the shade of a tree glowing with pale new leaves.
Every afternoon in the summer, when you can practically feel the sun burning your skin, I go to the pool and read. Afterwards, the long summer-night rituals begin: looking for fireflies and batting away mosquitoes and staying up a bit longer to catch the coolness of the darkness.
Fall rituals consist of slipping into new routines and the first fires, small and smoky. The leaves change colors--or sometimes not, depending on the kind of year that's been had.
Winter rituals are beautiful if you know where to look. Underneath pale skin lie deep thoughts and warm bowls of soup for what seems like every meal.
And before long, right when you think you can't take another one of those terribly short cold days, you start almost-spring rituals of lengthening days and looking for budding branches and opening windows a crack to let in the fresh breeze. Then the spring cleaning bug hits and when you look up from scrubbing, airing, and dusting, you notice that a new season has pushed through the grayness and arrived and whole cycle starts all over again.
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mmmm. I love this. smells like rich earth come spring.
ReplyDeletefeels a lot like hope.
Love this. You have such a way of painting pictures with your words! xo
ReplyDeleteYou've just renewed my love for this season, for all of its rituals. Socked feet by the blazing woodstove, indulging in pomegranates and Honeycrisp apples, twangy folk songs played throughout the house and time for knitting or reading. Once spring graces us with her presence, there will be a whole new set of rituals to delight in.
ReplyDeletelove this. incredible, Carlotta!
ReplyDeleteYes. All I can say is yes.
ReplyDeleteanna x
You've captured them all perfectly. Well done :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful... You've reminded me that even in this winter cold there is rituals. Studying for exams while drinking tea has become a ritual for me every January. This is absolutely beautiful....
ReplyDeletei'm flabbergasted. so beautiful!
ReplyDelete..I am completely in amazement.
ReplyDeletewelllllll this is lovely.
ReplyDeleteAnd what about the atemporal rituals? The ones linked to space rather than time. The way every time I take a trip on my bike, I talk to myself. Or how if I open a book in the afternoon, after 15 minutes I'll have my eyes closed and I'll be dreaming of the lands the book took me to. And there's the way that your room is it's own special galaxy, as the glow-in-the-dark star stickers and the strange color combinations will testify, and when you're in your own galaxy, you turn into your own self. There's the way that every time I dip into a lonely pool, I start dreaming I'm in a Mexican cenote, surrounded by fish and by wildlife. There's the way that every time my naked feet touch grass, I'm a wild thing running through wild places, and I catch myself dancing and doing handstands. I like the spacial rituals a lot too, thank you!
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