I have a very exciting guest post to share with you today! I reached out to Kristen and Tessa of All the Household to see if they would write something for Coram Mundo, and I may have squealed when I read their reply. Kristen and Tessa are a wealth of knowledge when it comes to celebrating the Church year in the home. Their website is full of both theoretical and practical resources to help you consider the why and how of liturgical living.
In today’s post, Kristen and Tessa share fascinating connections between seasonal living and living in the historical Church year. There is so much good information here, so take your time and enjoy the feast–even if you have to break it into bite-sized chunks. I hope it inspires you as much as it inspired me!
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Over the past couple of years, there has been a significant resurgence of seasonal living in popular culture. If you walk around your favorite book store; google the phrases “slow living,” “slow eating,” or “slow cooking;” or follow those advocating for more holistic and natural lifestyles, chances are you’ll encounter any number of people talking about their attempts to pattern life alongside the seasons. This isn’t the type of living that people engage in when they decorate the exterior of their house for Halloween, overbuy gifts for Christmas, or pay for Easter eggs to be hidden around their yard. No, this is a quieter movement, interested in better adhering to cycles of labor and rest, growing food in their backyards to feed their families, spending more time outside, and following the broader gestures of creation.
When you think about it, it makes sense that there has been a swell of interest in this topic. Modernity has ensured that you can do and eat whatever you want despite the time of year you’re living in. Are you interested in playing hockey in the middle of summer in Atlanta, Georgia? Year-round ice-cold air-conditioned rinks make it possible to do so. Do you enjoy ice cream in the middle of January, even though you live in northern Minnesota? All you have to do is go to the grocery store to pick up a pint of your favorite flavor.
St. Mark Rogation Walk, Quasimodogeniti Carrot Cake, St. John’s Eve Fire
Intentional, seasonal living is a refreshing breather from all of this. It serves not only to connect you to those who have gone before you (the ancestors who lived seasonally for millennia) but also to connect you with your body’s patterns, the earth, and the embedded sense of order found in the world around us. You can also view this type of living as a sort of generational rebound or counterculture movement, directly pushing back on the habits, traditions, and common knowledge lost with our parents and grandparents.
All of this is well and good, of course. However, it doesn’t take long once you dive a little deeper into the world of seasonal living to find yourself waist-deep in discussions about earth, animal, and crystal energies, the reincarnation of life, and ways to celebrate the various solstices and equinoxes. If you see it for what it is, a good portion of it is flat-out paganism. So what is an appropriate Christian response to seasonal living and our natural desires to better connect with our “roots?”
Seasonal Offerings of the Church Year
Luckily, the Christian calendar and liturgical cycle of the Church that has been around for thousands of years are interested in the exact sorts of things we find much of our culture drawn to today. When you start learning more about the way that the Church has historically stuck to an annual cycle of the same Scriptural readings, holy days, and traditions associated with them, you’ll find much of the same appeal, customs, and focus that come with seasonal living.
Does it seem like fun to celebrate the peak of summer in June and the dead of winter in December? Look no further than the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist or the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord to have an excuse to throw the biggest parties you’ve ever been a part of.
St. Nicholas Speculaas Cookies, Twelfth Night Star Bread, St. Lucia Lussekatter
Have you ever wanted to garner the health benefits of plant-based eating and veganism or, on the opposite end, wanted to indulge in all your favorite desserts? Have you wanted to learn how to cook new, challenging, or culturally-inspired dishes? There’s a time in the Christian year for all of this, ensuring that you’ll never get bored, or “stuck,” or trapped in the strictures of a boring religion.
Do you desire to stop your tendency to “go, go, go” and to shed the expectations our world puts on us to be constantly on the move? Do you get sick of always cooking the same old foods at home or feeling like you have to plan a four-course dinner every night for a table full of ravenous children? Look no further than the constant ebb and flow that the Church provides in its celebration of high, festive feast days and then in its observance of somber, mundane fasts. Learn more about how there are certain seasons and weeks of the year (like the octaves of Easter, Pentecost, or Christmas) meant for celebration, festivities every night, and feasting on the best foods. Then, on the other hand, there are other times when we are called to become introspective and inwardly-focused, are encouraged to say “no” to outside obligations and desires, to cozy up by the fire with our books and meditations, and to adopt more meager eating, cooking, and socializing habits. It gives us a chance to rest and reset. To “hibernate” for a period before reemerging into the world.
Do you want to get outside more and live your days by the light of the sun? Rogation days, Ember days, and the Ascension encourage you to get outside at all times of the year and to better attune yourselves to the seasonal transitions at play.
Do you crave seasonal foods and want to plan your weekly menu around what is available in your garden and cheapest in the grocery store (which is certainly not a bad idea considering food prices these days)? Follow the wisdom of those who have gone before you and who have created traditions for the Church year that naturally follow the harvesting of foods that are at their peak. You only have to learn more about St. Bartholomew and honey in August, October’s blackberries and St. Michael, and the mulled wine of St. John in December to increase your knowledge regarding seasonally appropriate foods.
St. Bartholomew Honey Cake, St. Michael & All Angels Bannock, St. John Mulled Wine
Do you want to have an excuse to pull out fun decorations for your kids, teach them about holidays and customs, sing songs, hang banners, and recite poems? The Church year is absolutely chock full of this stuff and provides you with more inspiration and ideas than you could possibly execute! And the best part is when you start looking into it, there’s more and more to learn.
Through the Lens of Scripture
Believe it or not, even though the aforementioned ideas are steeped in living in the “here and now,” all of these things can point us (and others!) towards our Lord and better instill in us a heavenly and purposeful focus for our time on this earth. It’s not just our human application and overlay of the Bible upon the ways of the world. No, we see these patterns of seasonal living in Scripture itself.
The themes of End Times as well as St. John the Baptist and his pointing to Christ within the season of Advent in December directly prepare us for Jesus’ birth and John 8:12 revelation that he is “the light of the world.” As St. John teaches, Christ’s birth brought humankind the dawning of a new day—his birth in the absolute darkest of days is the start of the pendulum swinging towards the increase of light. The Baptist said, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Similarly, one of the most beloved Lutheran hymns, sung in Epiphany during the days right after Christmas, reminds us of Christ, the Morning Star (LSB 395).
Candlemas in early February, which marks the Presentation of Jesus and the Purification of Mary, mimics the instructions God gave the Israelites in Egypt and how he delivered them out of the darkness of slavery. Again, the blessing of candles on this day and the tradition of holding an evening service lit with candlelight remind us of Jesus’ Epiphany to the world and the opening of all Christians’ eyes to his divinity: “for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel” (Luke 2:28-32).
St. Mary Lavender Cookies, Candlemas Crepes, The Visitation Blueberry Heart Shortcakes
The Annunciation in March with the celebration of Christ’s incarnation reminds us that new life blooms in the spring. The angel Gabriel came to Mary nine months before December to tell her the good news of the babe in her womb: “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus” (Luke 1:31). Likewise, Easter and Christ’s Resurrection on the third day are all tied to the end of winter, the rejuvenation of the earth, and the fulfilled promise of life after death: “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness” (Romans 8:10).
St. Mary’s other holidays throughout the height of summer, including the Visitation in July and the Assumption in August, allude to her fertility and fruitfulness as the “highly favored one,” blessed among women (Luke 1:28). That is the reason why Mary is called the “Flower of Flowers,” with many plants explicitly named after her (i.e. Rosemary, Marigold, and the Madonna Lily). Hostas were even known as “Assumption Lilies” since a thin stalk with a small and beautiful bluish flower rises out of the leaves in late summer, a reminder of Mary’s transition into heaven that the Church commemorates in mid-August.
Yet with fall comes Michaelmas, Ss. Simon and Jude, and All Saints’ Day in September, October, and November. These days are suggestive of the fight of good vs. evil, the gruesome death that comes to believers, and the eternal sleep that we all fall into. While the world prepares for winter, as the days shorten, and we’re kept busy in anticipation of harvest, we learn from the Church’s year that God is the ultimate reaper: “The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:7-8).
Ss. Simon and Jude Soul Cakes, St. Jonah Stuffed Gourd, Holy Cross Day Lemon Pound Cake
Conclusion
When put together and celebrated year after year, these days form the Church’s cycle and her own way of practicing seasonal living. These stories, traditions, and customs remind us of the ways we can be present: how we can be better attuned to nature and the order that God has put into the world. They help us retain and maintain our spiritual footing in an unstable world. They help us remember what’s truly important.
If you’re drawn to these things and want to tap into a different way of living, we encourage you to keep learning more about the Church and her seasons. Together with all those in the history of Christendom—both those living today and the millions who have gone before us in the faith—you can carry on the knowledge of these traditions and Christians’ seasonal wisdom. In the process you’ll surely reap many of the benefits associated with seasonal living. Yes, you’ll regain a slower way of life. You’ll probably connect more with yourself, with others, and with creation. But, most importantly, you’ll connect with God and the legacy of the Church.
Coram Mundo 