Well, Christmas music remains on my mind, because I haven't had the energy to do much more than listen to public radio. Almost four years into the pandemic, I "finally" got COVID. It's manifesting as a particularly bad cold; my mega-booster didn't completely protect me, but it seems to be holding off a worse experience. Anyway, for a few days, public classical radio -- even with almost nonstop Christmas music -- has been my only companion. Fortunately, there are a lot of new approaches to the old carols, new harmonizations, surprising instrumental versions, and so forth. When you are sick, there's comfort in the familiar, and for these few days, I'm just trying to say to that pesky sidekick of mine, "yes, these words no longer resonate with me, but please settle down and let the music play. I'm not feeling well, and it's the only radio station I can tolerate at all!"
Still, I just cannot help but ask the question: Can any of us imagine a world where for 2,000 years, the birth of a girl child was celebrated in song, pageantry, artwork, religious institutions, and ritual? Somewhere in the midst of the fog of this illness, I realize that I was right in my last post -- it's time for new carols and hymns. It's time to start a new musical/spiritual tradition. And I'm not sure I'm the best candidate to do it, but with all this church music training, I cannot possibly be the worst! I've started writing short prayers to the Goddess in my personal daily journal, and soon they may make their way into this blog.
