Yesterday, I saw a sign in a shop announcing Halloween items were now half off. I was shocked to realize that Halloween was now close enough for merchants to start reducing their inventory. They’d started selling Halloween goodies in August, and that feeling that there was lots of time before October 31 was still with me (and I was probably in denial about the end of daylight savings time again). I didn’t realize I had so few days to stock up on treats for neighborhood kids and send a surprise in the mail to my grandson, who is trick-or- treating as a four-bump Lego piece this year. Christmas and Hanukkah items will certainly be in stores by the time I shop for Halloween cider, on shelves near the Turkey ordering fliers for Thanksgiving next to an end rack of Christmas ornaments.

Each year, the period of time from the last days of summer through the end of December seems more and more like an overgrown garden. It is hard to perceive the holidays separately from one another. There are no pathways between them, no mulch to keep them apart.

How can we sort out our holidays and write about them when the needs of commerce rush us from one to the next? I hope the following journaling exercises can help. In each, I present a short history of a holiday and a writing idea based on the history and the way we celebrate the holiday today. Even if you don’t celebrate a particular holiday, reading about its history and considering the instructional idea I present will give you ideas for topics for new writing about your seasonal experiences.

Halloween
The idea of wearing costumes to represent scary spirits and the coming of the dark season may have its roots in Celtic times when the old year’s death occurred on October 31 and the new year’s birth on November 1. In Celtic understanding was that on the last day of the year, the dead are allowed access back to earth and roam the fields. One custom was to leave offerings of food and drink to masked and costumed revelers, some of whom might be ghosts.

 Whether you are stitching or buying costumes, selecting candy to give out, carving pumpkins or making plans not to be home, you have stories to tell about your past Halloween. One of the most vivid Halloween memories I have is about ringing a bell, saying “Trick or Treat,” and holding up our bags when a man opened the door and pointed to a low bookcase whose top was lined with pennies. He told us to select a penny for our bags. This was 1953, and money of any denomination just for the taking was amazing! The first of us reached for the penny. “Ow!” the child exclaimed and shook his hand in pain. Each of us in turn reached for a penny and dropped it hastily into our bags because it was so hot. When we were all done, the man pointed to the lamp he had over the pennies heating them up and said, “Trick not treat.” We left realizing for the first time what we were saying with our words, ”Trick or Treat.”

Write about a Halloween memory from the trick side of trick or treat, the scary spirit stuff, whether you were the trickster or the person tricked.

Thanksgiving
When the Pilgrims came to America and landed in Massachusetts in 1620, they planted seeds from England. Their crops did not thrive in the new environment. Cultural lore tells us that they might have all starved had the Native Americans not taught them about growing indigenous food. According to this story, when the Pilgrims harvested their new crops, they held a feast and invited their Native American allies, who came with food as well. The first Thanksgiving may have lasted for days. Later, George Washington made Thanksgiving a national holiday and Abraham Lincoln revived it when it fell out of favor. No matter what our background or beliefs, on Thanksgiving we give thanks together as a nation for the resources that sustain us — food, shelter, jobs, friends and loved ones.

One Thanksgiving, my mother read about a ritual in the local newspaper and asked if we could do it at our table. We passed around a plate of dried beans and everyone took one. Then we passed around a cup and everyone in turn told what they were thankful for that year and dropped their bean into the cup. There was fulfillment in the sound of the beans dropped into the cup, in the different voices around the table, and the symbol that thanks were mounting. Our tiny hill of beans was endowed with the thankful hearts of our family and friends.

If you want to write a special journal entry for Thanksgiving, write what you are thankful for. Figure out what you could place in a cup — a seed, an item you cherish or something funny-to create your cup full of thanks. You might want to use a sentence like, “I place clover leaf into this cup of thanks. With clover leaf, I remember how I am grateful for what has created the nutritious soil of my life… ”

Hanukkah
King Antiochus ruled Palestine two thousand years ago and banned the practice of Judaism. Mattathias and his son Judah led Jews to defy Antiochus. Judah’s army defeated Antiochus and the Jews returned to Jerusalem and took their temple back. Needing to burn an eternal light to rededicate the temple to God, they found only enough oil for one night. Yet that one night’s oil lasted the full eight days until new oil could be made. Hanukkah, the Festival of Light, celebrates this miracle. A special candleholder, the menorah, holds eight candles, one to represent each day the oil lasted, plus one called the shammash, or servant candle. The shammash is used to light one candle the first night, two the second and so on until, on the last night of Hanukkah, all eight candles plus the shammash burn.

If you want to write a special journal entry to celebrate Hanukkah, either the first night or all of the eight nights, imagine that you are the shammash candle, the one used to light the others. On the first night, each night or on the last night of Hanukkah, write a journal entry that “enlightens.” This can be about the importance of being able to worship in a tradition that is yours, or it can be about people who have helped you get where you are, just as Judah helped the Jews get their temple back. Describe yourself or your religious observance as a flame igniting other flames, or illuminating or casting a shadow by which you or others learn. Or write about someone or ones who acted as that flame for you.

Christmas
In the year 325, December 25 was chosen as the exact day to worship Christ’s birth. Because of the stories surrounding the happenings at Christ’s birth and because the pre-Christian customs of winter solstice holidays were already well established, there are a lot of traditions inter-mingled in the Christmas celebration based on giving, enjoying the season and honoring Christ and humanity.

Today people buy prewritten greeting cards or write letters they can mass-mail with good news about each family member. These cards and letters sometimes include a current picture of the family. This may derive from a custom of the 1800s in England, where boys boarding at schools away from home sent something they called “Christmas Pieces” to their parents to display their best writing skills.

Perhaps a fitting journal entry for this holiday would be a heart-felt “Christmas Piece” addressed to one’s parents, living or dead, telling them what Christmas has come to mean to you. Imagine a picture you would include that supports what you are writing about. Tell them in your writing what that picture is and why you have included it.

Kwanzaa
In 1966, American scholar Dr. Maulana Karenga established a winter holiday celebration using the Kiswahili language, for African Americans to honor Nguzo Saba, The Seven Principles, which serve as guides for daily living:

Umoja (Unity); Kujichagulia (Self-Determination); Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility); Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics); Nia (Purpose); Kuumba (Creativity); and Imani (Faith). On the evening of December 31, Kwanzaa Karamu is held for cultural expression as well as feasting. Everyone brings something or helps make the dinner. An African motif includes the colors black (the people), red (bloodshed and struggle) and green (the bountiful motherland of Africa and the hopes and dreams of black youth). Songs and group dancing, poetry, chants and unity circles are often performed.

There are seven objects used in the evening’s celebration: Mazao, crops like fruits and vegetables, symbolize the rewards of collective labor. Mkeka, a place mat, is the symbol of tradition and history. Kinara, a candleholder with candles called Mishumaa — three green, three black and three red — symbolizes the continental Africans, African-Americans’ parent people. Vibunzi, ears of corn, represent the number of children in a family and their potential as producers and reproducers. Zawadi, gifts, are a reward for commitments that are made and kept and exchanged between members of a nuclear family. These gifts are educational and often handmade so no one falls victim to commercialism. There is also a Kikombe Cha Umoja, or communal unity cup, at the meal. A Nguzo Saba, which has the seven principles printed in large letters, and the Bendera ya Taifa, the national flag of black, red and green, are also often incorporated into the event.

If you wish to write a journal entry that celebrates Kwanzaa, think about the seven principles the holiday celebrates. Write about how each principle is present in your life as well as how you would like some of these principles to be more present in your future. Or, write about the ceremonial colors and objects as they appear in your life. Each could offer a particular memory in the form of a vignette.

****

So, catch some time (in your car in grocery store parking lots or between trick-or- treaters) to write your holiday memories full of surprise, dedication, commitment, joy, humor and nostalgia. Your notes and vignettes will provide you with images and thoughts for future essays and poems. And hopefully, you’ll find time to revise when the holiday season is over.

When you take the time to put your holiday memories, thoughts and feelings down on the page, you might begin to feel the season slow down a bit, as if you are creating a garden path. Taking the time to gaze at each holiday in turn will help those of us who want to honor and record the spirit and meaning of our seasonal holidays.