Jump up : good times throughout the seasons with seasonal celebrations from around the world

A guide to worldwide holidays, rituals, ceremonies, stories, and ancient practices that amplify and honor seasonal transformations throughout the year. Celebrations that mark the seasons are rich with food, music, dance, offerings, and the reenactment of myth. Jump Up (titled after a Caribbean phrase that is used to describe a celebration) is meant to reacquaint readers with these traditions and to give them suggested practices for honoring past traditions in new ways. African traditions form the core of the book, and ceremonies and practices from Europe, Asia, the Americas, and the South Pacific are interwoven throughout. Readers will encounter the origin of well-known holidays and, at the same time, learn about others that are unknown in the Western world. Some of the more familiar cultural-based seasonal holidays that appear in this book include Christmas, New Year's Day, Mardi Gras, Palm Sunday, Easter, May Day, Day of the Dead, and the African American holiday of Kwanzaa. Each season's story is accompanied by recipes, suggestions and guidelines for rituals to help readers create their own celebrations. One winter ritual, complete with instructions, is the Ritual of the Cleansing Fire, and an autumn ritual is the Building of the Autumn Equinox Altar. The recommended rituals are generic, and they can be done in conjunction with or in place of traditional holidays. Laced with myth, folklore, and poetry, Jump Up celebrates life, enlivens the spirit, and strengthens the bonds of community. "Virtually all peoples of the world celebrate the passage of seasons. The continual movement of time through winter, spring, summer, and autumn has framed human experience and profoundly affected the lives of individuals and communities for many thousands of years. Celebrations that mark the seasons are rich with food, music, dance, offerings, and the reenactment of myth. Jump Up (titled after a Caribbean phrase that is used to describe a celebration) is meant to reacquaint readers with these traditions and to give them suggested practices for honoring past traditions in new ways. African traditions form the core of the book, and ceremonies and practices from Europe, Asia, the Americas, and the South Pacific are interwoven throughout. Readers will encounter the origin of well-known holidays and, at the same time, learn about others that are unknown in the Western world. Some of the more familiar cultural-based seasonal holidays that appear in this book include Christmas, New Year's Day, Mardi Gras, Palm Sunday, Easter, May Day, Day of the Dead, and the African American holiday of Kwaanza. Each season's story is accompanied by recipes, suggestions and guidelines for rituals to help readers create their own celebrations. One winter ritual, complete with instructions, is the Ritual of the Cleansing Fire, and an autumn ritual is the Building of the Autumn Equinox Altar. The recommended rituals are generic, and they can be done in conjunction with or in place of traditional holidays. Laced with myth, folklore, and poetry, Jump Up celebrates life, enlivens the spirit, and strengthens the bonds of community."-- Provided by publisher

many People Are Unaware Of The Connection Between Holidays And The Earth-based Seasonal Traditions From Which These Special Days Evolved. Using Myth, Folklore, And Poetry, This Book Reacquaints Readers With Well-known Traditions. Organized By Season, Each Section Begins With A Story Followed By Rituals That Readers Can Enact To Create Their Own Celebrations. Ceremonies And Traditions Come From Africa, Europe, The Americas, Asia, And The South Pacific, From Christmas And Kwanzaa To The Ritual Of The Cleansing Fire And The Building Of The Autumn Equinox Altar.

Guides readers in reconnecting holidays to the rhythms of nature and provides instructions on how to use myths, folklore, and poetry from around the world to create life-giving, nature-based rituals and ceremonies In the beginning, at a time when there was no Time, all that existed was the great silence in the dark depth of the Cosmic Womb (Nana Buluku).