I firmly believe that no one does New Year like the Scots,Hogmanay (I hope I spelled that correctly) has a life of it's own north of the border and the further north you go t he livelier the celebration and the nearer to the true New Year Festival.
There seems to be something in most religions which expresses the need for light in the winter months and the setting of bonfires and the carrying of torches feeds this need although most people have forgotten the reason for such celebration.
Darkness awakens the pagan in all of us,the need to cast light into dark places, to drive out fear and uncertainty still lives within every man and no shame to him for that. Metaphorical fires just don't do it for us,we need to see the light and feel the warmth it gives us.
Christians talk of seeing the light and they is no coincidence,since in its early days when competition from pagan faiths was great the church needed to express itself in ways easily understood.
Seeing the metaphorical light of God meant a leap of faith from belief in what could be seen to a faith in the invisible and for some it was a leap too far. Having faith in the impossible became a virtue,that in itself is strange since it often clashes with the very human instinct to survive.
At the beginning of a new year and speaking as a pagan I hope and pray for toleration between faiths for truth be told it is the “There is only one God” faiths which cause the problem, the my way or no way brigade who cannot tolerate each others beliefs.
Take a look at Jerusalem considered a holy place by several faiths diametrically opposed top each other in every way,fought over for centuries and still in torment. Palestine, stamping ground of Jesus Christ and His apostles is a battle field its population is steadily being cleansed form its environs by the one race in the world who should know better.
Jewish history particularly it’s recent history is filled with the horror of ethnic cleansing of one faith by another,they remember,we remember, and yet they want to drive the native Palestinians from the face of the earth and feel justified in so doing...how can they?
Christians and Jews have one thing in common,a total lack of regard for any view but their own and a single minded insistence that they alone are the chosen of God.
God is love, God forgives all those who truly repent, Would it not be better not to do these evil things in the first place.
My ancestors were persecuted by Christians all down the ages and yet we are peace makers,cultivators and artists. We work with nature not against it and we are above all, tolerant of others beliefs and I will tell you why that is so. It is because we hold the truth in our hands every time we plant a seed,we see it in the sun rise and feel it's strength in the birth of a child.
What ever great power governs all things cares for all men equally, it is mankind himself who makes distinctions not God.
In the New Year let us be tolerant and caring and let us be willing to share our world in good faith with each other . That is my New Years hope, and my nightly prayer.
Happy New Year to every one and may al your dreams come true.
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