A New Year’s Walk on frozen Lake Sagatagan, MN. photo: A. Furchert 2017
New Year’s Day 2021, The 8th Day of Christmas
Friends and fellow travelers,
A warm welcome to you into the new year! On such a day, we do not recommend any heavy spiritual lifting or deep meditation. We propose instead a New Year’s walk to clear the mind and to welcome your body into the new year. Follow this by imbibing Hildegard von Bingen’s spiced wine to warm your hands and heart. There is a recipe at the very end of this reflection.
A New Year’s Walk
I never really had a New Year's Day tradition, unless you want to call sleeping late a tradition. But I learned a tradition from Almut's family in Germany. Their tradition, and is it one carried on by most of the family members in their new families, is that of the New Year's Day walk. It is usually done in the morning (which precludes much sleeping late) and can range from a stroll about the city to a long hike in the woods.
Part of the idea is to get out into the world and to enjoy the simple pleasure of walking and chatting with family, rather than sitting and eating more holiday fare. But part of the idea is also to take the day as sacred and to do something one does not often do, simply walk to enjoy the moment, walk to experience and to welcome the new year.
My most memorable of these walks happened at St. John's Abbey in Minnesota. Almut and I were leading a New Year's reflective retreat at the Abbey Guesthouse, and we thought to lead the group on a New Year's Day walk across the frozen lake and to a small pilgrimage chapel with a beautiful statue of the pregnant Mary (you will have heard of her from other reflections we have written). It was a magical walk for the group. Having spent the retreat looking backward, we now began walking forward. It takes about an hour to go there and back, with the ice and snow creaking underneath your feet, and in the bleak midwinter, you do not feel like lingering long at the chapel. But the view of the chapel from the frozen lake, and the winter sun streaming through the stained glass onto Mary's statue are transcendent sights. (click here to enjoy some impressions from this landscape if you are in need of an icy winter walk at the other end of the world :-)
Today, we will walk again, Almut, Hannah, and I. But this time only through our new neighborhood, and out into the natural woods and prairie on the edge of town by one of our colleges. And we will talk, and stop, and point, and share our breath on the wind. And then return to warm some wine. It is a simple exercise, simply being present together in openness and gratitude. Rejoicing in small things.
We invite you to join with us on your own walk, taking your own life in your hands in the place where you are. And with the attention you give it, making the ordinary sacred, or perhaps seeing the sacredness that has always been there, waiting for you.
A Poem
This walking reminds me of a poem you should know by Mary Oliver, a transcendent poet of the natural world who urges us to simply “let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” She goes on to present the image of Wild Geese “high in the clean blue air” that “announce your place in the family of things”. In the right spirit, a good walk can provide you with this sense of your place in the family of things. Even in the wrong spirit, a walk can lure you to consider your place, and seduce you, catching you by surprise.
Here is a link to Mary Oliver reading the poem (at brainpickings) that may give you a feeling of the spirit in which it was written. The spirit she offers in this poem is one you might carry on your walk and cradle with your spiced wine. If you cannot take a walk perhaps you can let your mind wander through her reading of the poem and enjoy its gentle awareness to the day.
Some Spiced Wine
Here is a recipe for some spiced wine at the end of your walk. We have offered it before in a reflection on feasting and fasting. It comes recommended by Hildegard von Bingen, who considers it a medicine for body and soul.
The recipe is very simple. Take some red wine (a boxed one will do), straight or mixed with water, grape juice, orange juice, or cider, depending on the strength you prefer. It works too without alcohol, with grape juice or cider or some mix.
Then comes the blessing of Hildegard, what she calls the “spices of joy”, which are: cardamon, cinnamon, anise, cloves, and nutmeg. Choose what you have and experiment.
Add some of the spices in a tea bag or directly to the liquid and simmer on low for approximately 3-5 min. You can also add some fresh grated ginger and / or organic orange peel to the mix as well as honey to sweeten. Enjoy hot on a cold day!
And may this New Year welcome you with gentle embrace.
This post is part of our 12 Days of Christmas Series 2020/21: Cradling Hope, a Contemplative Journey towards the heart of Christmas. You can still enroll and follow along. To enter our virtual gathering space click here. To share your thoughts with us, write us here or comment below. To offer your gift for this journey, click here. If you are looking for personal consultation, visit our PathFinder.
Thank you for sharing this text with some one you think might enjoy it.
Peace and Blessings, Almut & Chuck
