At the end of each year we get an opportunity to reflect on what has happened over the previous 12 months. We add up the good and the bad and look forward to a new year filled with more good luck than bad. After all, the new year is supposed to be a fresh start, a new beginning, a chance to do better, make things all right with the universe. If only there was a way to hedge those bets, to perform some last minute action that would at the very least boost the odds in our favor. But the time is too short, the few days left are quickly running the clock.
Being a die-hard optimist, I’m always looking for that loophole or last minute “fix”. Sooooo…one of my favorite traditions for New Years Eve is to burn up all the bad luck from the previous 12 months. The tradition of burning up our bad luck must be part of some racial memory, because it is found in many cultures throughout the centuries. I think it was definitely developed by men because just like men love to grill out nowadays because of the element of the excitement of playing with fire, so too they came up with burning something when it was too cold to grill outside! Women, on the other hand, tend to go into a cleaning frenzy, again historically based on the concept of the clean sweep for a fresh start. Have women been working harder not smarter by doing all this clean up when all that was needed was a good blaze? Humm…probably.
So, once again, this New Year’s Eve I will spend the day gathering items that represent the bad luck of the previous year; loser lotto tickets, receipts for items that were a bad buy, credit card statements that may indicate mounting personal debt, copies of medical bills, any correspondence that was not exactly “nice”, “beneficial”, or particularly happy news, a small part (preferably something flammable) from a computer, car, or appliance that broke down, etc. The list goes on and varies according to what has happened during the prior 12 months. Some years the pile is pretty hefty, and fortunately there have been years where it was much smaller. But, the key element is that regardless of the size, and I do try to keep this manageable, it all needs to fit into a silver (or silver plate) bowl, whether the bowl is high rimmed or more like a flat server doesn’t matter. The material of the bowl is important, however, because it symbolizes something of “value” that you are willing to get rid of to bring about the eradication of all the bad stuff of the prior 12 months.
Then, at about 11:55 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, with all these items assembled, along with a lighter or matches, and after a tad of celebratory refreshments applied liberally throughout the evening, I will step outside into the back yard and raise the bowl and its contents toward the stars and shout out to the universe that my bad luck is gone from my life and the space it has made will be filled with abundant good luck. I may do a little tippy toe dance around the yard depending on the residual effects of the previous celebratory libations. And at that point – It’s Show Time – Midnight – Ignite The Fire! Just be sure to set the bowl down on the ground before you ignite the contents – nothing worse than holding a silver bowl with a fire blazing in it and starting the New Year in an emergency room with third degree burns on both hands and drunkenly trying to explain to a nurse why this happened.
As the smoke begins to billow and swirl through the night sky there is always a sense of burdens being lifted from my shoulders, taking all those monkeys off my back and handing them back to the universe; a general sense of relief. I will watch mesmerized by the dancing flames and plumes of smoke spiraling away until the last ember has faded, then head back inside and tuck myself into bed, once again hopeful that the New Year will bring a wondrous fresh start abundant with good fortune.
But the bottom line to this fun and refreshing New Year’s Eve tradition for me, after all is that maybe it’s just the symbolism and the sense of doing something to effect the immutable forces along with the excitement of playing with fire. And darn if it isn’t a lot more fun than scrubbing, waxing and cleaning the house.
bythebaroness 