Meticulous Seasonal Greetings
December 18, 2008
Bespoke Winter Blessings for everyone!
- To the followers of the ancient European traditions: Happy Solstice, Merry Yule, and rejoice for the Sun King has returned!
- To the followers of the ancient Indian traditions: an auspicious Makara Sankranti, and may your harvest be bountiful.
- To the followers of Zarathustra: happy Yalda, and a solemn Zartosht no-diso.
- To the followers of the Prophets of Israel: Happy Hannukah, and may your Festival of Lights be filled with delicious fried foods!
- To the followers of the Buddha, those of the "Great Vehicle": I wish you happy Buddhist New Year!
- To the followers of the Buddha, those of the "Ancient Teaching": may your life prosper in the four blessings of old age, beauty, happiness and strength.
- To the followers of Jesus Christ: Merry Christmas, and a Happy Gregorian New Year!
- To the followers of Muhammad, peace be upon him: Happy Islamic New Year, and may 1430 H bring you peace and joy.
- To the followers of the ten gurus: may you have wonderful celebrations of the birth of the tenth Nanak!
- To the followers of Bahá'u'lláh, may God be with you.
- To those of African-American descent: Happy Kwanzaa, and blessings upon your family!
- To the followers of Eris: Merry Swik, may your loot be overflowing, and your consciousness extinguished by a flood of intoxicants!
- And to the followers of no-one: enjoy your time away from work!
Only a Game will return in January with yet more nonsense.
With all the wonderful paraphernalia attached to each 'following' belief system, I almost feel deprived when my impulse is to pick 'follower of no one'.
I don't even get time off work :(
Merry whatever, and a happy temporal period further down the light-cone!!
Posted by: zenBen | December 18, 2008 at 11:51 AM
"To the followers of Bahá'u'lláh, may God be with you."
Thanks, Chris! It's always nice to see my own faith acknowledged in these sorts of greetings. :)
Posted by: Deirdra | December 18, 2008 at 11:57 PM
Deirdra: ah, I had wondered about your religious background but was too polite to ask outright. :) I have a great fondness for the Bahá'í faith, and indeed have a lot of beliefs in common with it. (I inherit these beliefs from Sufi Islam, which must have also been an influence for Bahá'u'lláh).
I was uncertain of the most appropriate seasonal greeting for Bahá'í... any suggestions? Or was what I drafted above perfectly adequate?
zenBen: no time off work? How monstrously unfortunate for you!
As for me, I have to return to work in earnest today - which is equally monstrous. :p
Best wishes!
Posted by: Chris | January 05, 2009 at 09:08 AM
What you wrote was perfect. Since we don't really have any major holy days in the winter (as you likely already know, our New Year starts in the spring), there isn't really a seasonal greeting we use at this time. I myself celebrate Christmas, since part of my family comes from a Filipino Catholic tradition, but I'm likely somewhat in the minority here.
Posted by: Deirdra | January 06, 2009 at 12:26 AM
Deirdra: I think *everyone* is in the minority here from some perspective. :) There doesn't seem to be a common pattern of beliefs. Even the Christian players, who seem to be the largest religious group represented here, are quite diverse in their actual beliefs and practices.
Best wishes!
Posted by: Chris | January 06, 2009 at 09:17 AM
I have always been interested in this sort of stuff, thanks for writing it!
Posted by: FxMaster | January 17, 2009 at 04:06 AM
FxMaster: Thanks for the kind words! As a footnote, I put the blessings in the order that the traditions in question were founded. Like I said in the title, meticulous. :)
Posted by: Chris | January 18, 2009 at 10:05 AM