All That There Is In A New Year’s Day…
“It’s going to kill us.”
Some in our group nodded, while others rolled their eyes. So much drama!
“It’s the same thing every year. We will not die, but…”
“The food will be good, though.”
“That’s if you’re not too tired to eat.”
We sighed loudly, shook our heads. It was our last afternoon of freedom before the day of labor that would turn some of us into annoyed human beings until lunch time.
Tomorrow the whole neighborhood will wake up at dawn to complete the same ritual. From sunrise to noon, or lunch time grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, and children, we all had our assigned tasks. The first day of the new year was always dedicated to the deep cleaning of our homes, our bodies, and our streets. The purpose of this rite was to free our families and our surroundings from all the negative energies accumulated during the prior year and replace them with positive forces.
My friends and I were in the 13 to 15 years old age-group. Our elders and parents said that we were old enough to clean the house and the very large veranda, and also help in the kitchen.
The next morning, like all my contemporaries, my grandmother woke me up a dawn:
“Anna, get up. It’s a new year. There’s a lot of work… C’mon get up.”
“I’m up.”
“Good. Go washup, I think breakfast is almost ready… there’s a lot of work.”
All the doors and windows were already open to let the air of the new year in. After breakfast, our mothers and aunts went to the market to buy vegetables, and all the condiments they needed to cook our feast. Our fathers and uncles were in charge of getting the meat. My cousins and I had the most difficult task: clean the entire house. Girls swept the floors, and boys helped move furniture. Lalla and the elders were our supervisors and cheerers.
“You are so strong…” one elder would say when a young man carried a heavy piece of furniture outside to dust it off.
“This house is going to be spotless,” someone would echo as they watched one of us wipe away sweat.
Their compliments were shots of adrenaline that boosted our ego and made us smile and keep going despite being tired. It also started an unspoken competition. Who would work the hardest and get the most compliments from our elders? When we finished cleaning the house, Lalla and the seniors walked in to inspect our work. And every year, at the end of the inspection the same words:
“Today you all did some good work. We are proud and happy. That’s what we expected from you: that you work together. And you didn’t disappoint.”
Later Lalla and the elders explained that the purpose of this exercise was to make us learn to work and put-up with one another. For life in society is possible only when everyone knows how to respect one another and comply with the established rules.
After the entire house had been cleaned, we closed the windows and burned incense to invite the forces of good into our homes. By that time, our mothers and aunts had finished cooking. The cleaning was over when in every family, at around noon, you saw the boys taking all the garbage out.
After that, we patiently waited our turn take a wash. The entire family from the elder to the youngest child must wash and put on clean clothes before coming together to eat lunch.
But before we sat in circle around the bowl of food, we first took plates of food to our neighbors. They too share their meals with us. Some were really, really good. Others, well… aye and no further comment.
Honestly, no matter how tired we were, my friends and I always looked forward to the evening. Because starting the first evening of the new year, and for an entire week, every night, Lalla and the elders retold our Ancient Words: the story of how the universe came to be, why humankind was created, and what was our purpose and role on earth.
Lalla and the elders started the evening with the same opening:
“People are made of bones and flesh. We breathe, we eat and drink. But our spirit needs three things: 1) Be who they want to be; 2) Say what they want to say; and 3) Do what they want to do. But for you to realize and be all those things you need to know three things: 1) Who you are; 2) What you are; and 3) Why you are here.
That’s why we tell you year after our Ancient Words so you have answers to those questions.
What Would Lalla Say?
“Think. Meditate. When you look at all the good and all the challenges you went through what did they teach you about you?”
“That I’m stronger and more resilient than I thought.”
“True. You’re also more impatient.”
I wanted to find something to say, but my mind went blank. Lalla had her mischievous smile and continued:
“But that’s not all. The good and bad in life show that you never completely know yourself. You Are One and Many. And as long as you live, every trial, every challenge will make you uncover unsuspected inner qualities: your hidden powers. You Are One And Many. You are so more than what you can see or imagine.
And so dear reader, I’ll conclude with this: May 2024 be the year where you choose to appreciate who you are, and all the things you have gone through and conquered to be who you are, and where you are today.
May you celebrate the person you are.
2024 is here. May it be a year when we continue to trust ourselves, listen to the voice inside our gut. For, Latent in all of us there is the spark of divinity we must learn to know so it can become our guiding light, that will help contain without eliminating the bark, the pulp and the heart in all of us.
Finally, may we remember as we continue to be kind to the world, to also be kind to ourselves.
Happy New Year 2024 to all!