Why do we Gather in the Season of Darkness?
In Together Culture’s first two months of existence at 5 Fitzroy Street, more than 300 souls gathered to ‘Lift the Veil’ on the traditions that connect us to one another, the natural world, our past, our present and our future at the time of year when leaves fall, frost settles, and night lengthens. Why? If we aim to change culture, we need to understand the power of culture, how it is formed, and why it sticks. The rituals that we share tell a story of us. It’s a narrative that was written by people thousands of years ago. As the decades pass, and new people inherit ancient stories, new editions are shaped. These stories shape our identities and the systems we build to live our values. The more aware we become how things became the way they are and the situations that shape our behaviours, the more empathy we develop for others. Crucially, we realise that the frame from which we see the world has been created by people. So, it is completely within our power as people to recreate it. Every single year, through our seasonal rituals, we gather to reconnect with what it means to be human, to reinforce the stories that serve us, and pause to redraft the narratives that no longer serve our vision of the story we wish to write.
From Fenland Fog and Folk Wisdom to Witch Trials and Belonging to Dia de Muertos to Halloween to the Sound of Fear and Bonfires and Revolution, we reflected on how our emotions shape our history, how the culture we live reflects our attitude towards (the rest of) the natural world, how working our way through tension enables new narratives to emerge, and how rituals in which we feel free and vulnerable are the moments that bond us together.
As October turned to November and we gathered to Sing the Light Within, to feast and to learn why we feast, and to understand how we can cultivate an attitude of gratitude. We realised that at the time of year when coziness becomes our calling, we are doing some of our most profound creating. We reflect, we pause to notice the enormity of small things, we reconnect with our values, we take care of ourselves and one another. We make space to be fully human.
Imagine yourself living in an agrarian economy, before the advent of electricity, at the mid-point between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice. You would have already taken in the harvest, made the preserves, slaughtered some animals in anticipation of the winter to come. You would likely know how to read the height of the sun in the sky, the position of the stars, and the length of the days and nights to know exactly what time of year it was. What you wouldn’t know is how fierce the winter storms to come would be, nor would you know when the spring thaw would arrive. Did you have enough fuel and food to make it to late Spring? As the nights’ grew longer, is there any wonder that you might start reflecting on the precariousness of life? For some, it might bring with it an acceptance that death was a part of the natural cycle. And perhaps, knowing that there is a thin veil between the human world and the spirit world might seem comforting. One might wish to welcome back ancestors who brought kindness into one’s life, and ward off evil spirits by putting a Jack o’lantern outside your door because there’s enough struggle in life, thank you very much.
As we explored the writing of Octavio Paz, we discussed the moments in life where we felt compromised, inauthentic. A pressure builds up within us that we need to let go of. For Paz, that’s what the fiesta is for. It’s a time for re-creation. Letting go, being free. Dancing with the dead and accepting one’s fate with glee. Why be afraid? Why not embrace transition? From Jorg Fachner and Helen East, we discovered how experiencing music is never passive. In fact, when we listen to music our emotions and memories are triggered. In our inner worlds, we are vulnerable. We don’t need to use words to reveal experiences we’d prefer remain private, yet the experience is intimate.
Four historians shared their work with us and reminded us that history is a story of human emotion as expressed in different situations, systemic, and mental frameworks. There is no escaping that life will bring struggle and sorrow, yet it can, and I hope for all of you, it also brings contentment, joy, and connection. Historian Malcolm Gladwell shared his view that imagination is an act of empathy. When we are in an imagination crisis, our empathy for one another diminishes.
What we’ve truly been doing with our events is bringing together the Together Culture community to develop our creative practice. We are holding space for our imaginations to flourish. To explore and express our authentic selves. To make time to connect, to imagine, and to become. To help one another, to halve sorrows, and multiply the joy.
And as we move into 2024, we’ll be launching our Citizens’ Studio, Business Unusual Upskilling for Changemakers Workshops, and Resolution for Regeneration event series to put the power of our individual creative practice into collective action. I hope that you’ll all share your talents, hearts, and voices. Together, we’re living our Theory of Change. It is with wholehearted and sincere gratitude that I say what a gift it has been to begin the process of building friendships with you all this year. You fill me with hope.
Wishing you well,
Heather
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to shaping our creative practice thus far by turning up with openness and curiosity. Thank you as well to our collaborators on curating this season of events: Rosanna Greaves, Dr Kirk Woolford, Professor Ulinka Rublack, Professor Malcolm Gladwell, Dr Sean Lang, Professor Jorg Fachner, Liam Taylor, Sam Bilton, Helen East, Lucy Gonzalez, Sophie Christophy, Louise Sheridan, and Susannah Redhead.
