Happy Thanksgiving!

I have a bad cold, so I have to stay in alone while my pals are feasting together, and I’m kind of grumpy about it.  I had the good fortune to help restore a truly remarkable film, Giant (1956), a decade ago.  It’s full of honest, meaningful glimpses into the contradictions of American life.

The Joy of Rituals

The long-simmering kettle of universal spirit reduces varied traditions down to their elements.  This produces a stock for the making of future soups.  I just sang in the choir (and was a shepherd) in an Epiphany pageant marking the end of the twelve days of Christmas, the triumph of wisdom over ignorant forces, and the passing of the life force from the old year into the new.

It’s called the Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival.  Like Christmas, it has come to us from many different times and places.  The origins are pagan, Roman, Viking, Christian and Medieval, all at once.