Jump Up. Luisah Teish

      

      Jump Up

      Good Times Throughout

      the Seasons with Celebrations

      from Around the World

       Luisah Teish

      Foreword by Angeles Arrien, Ph. D.

      CONARI

      PRESS

      Copyright © 2000 by Conari Press

      All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any

      manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief

      quotations in critical articles or reviews. For information, contact:

      Conari Press, 2550 Ninth Street, Suite 101, Berkeley, California 94710-2551.

      Conari Press books are distributed by Publishers Group West.

      Excerpts from GUMBOYA-YA by Lyle Saxon. Copyright 1945, © renewed

      1973 by the Louisiana State Library. Reprinted by permission

      of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

      Excerpt from Wheel of the Year by Pauline Campanelli. Copyright © 1989 by

      Pauline Campanelli. Reprinted by pernission of Pauline Campanelli.

      Some of the material in this book is reprinted from

      Carnival of the Spirit, by Luisah Teish.

      ISBN: 1-57324-551-8

      Cover Illustrations: Kathleen Edwards

      Author Photo: Gay Block

      Cover Design: Ame Beanland

      Interior Illustrations: Luisah Teish

      Interior chapter opening shells: Kathleen Edwards

      Book Design: Suzanne Albertson

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Teish, Luisah.

      Jump up : seasonal celebrations from the world's deep traditions /Luisah Teish.

      p. cm.

      Includes bibliographical references and index.

      ISBN 1–57324–551–8

      1. Festivals. 2. Festival—Africa. I. Title.

      GT3930 .T43 2000

      394.26—dc21 00–010168

      Printed in the United States of America on recycled paper.

      00 01 02 BIS 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

       To Damballah Hwedo, the Rainbow Serpent

       To the Ancestors: My elder the Iyalode of Oshogbo, Nigeria

       My sister, Ms.Joyce M. E. L. Robinson

       To my longtime friend, Rev. Norma Tringali

       And to kindred spirits everywhere!

      JUMP UP

       Foreword by Angeles Arrien, Ph. D.

       Preface

       Introduction My Own Path Toward Celebration

       1 Myths and Deities

       2 Winter

       3 Spring

       4 Summer

       5 Autumn

       For Every Season

       Calendar of Celebrations

       Acknowledgments

       Notes

       Bibliography

       Index

      FOREWORD

      by Angeles Arrien, Ph.D., cultural anthropologist, author of The Four-Fold Way and Signs of Life

      To many people, the ideals of the Industrial Revolution—the never-ending desire for more progress, more development, and greater wealth—no longer seem relevant to our modern lives, yet we have trouble letting them go. If we are to survive in the world of the twenty-first century, however, we must reconsider our priorities.

      The great historian Arnold Toynbee, through his analysis of the rise and fall of twenty civilizations, offers a larger perspective on the current shifts in values and lifestyles. Summarizing the principles of civilization's growth, Toynbee formulated the Law of Progressive Simplification, which reminds us that the measure of a civilization's growth and sustainable vitality lies in its ability to transfer increasing amounts of energy and attention away from the material side of life toward the educational, psychological, cultural, aesthetic, and spiritual sides.

      

      Luisah Teish's lifelong commitment has been to foster growth and sustainable vitality within the human spirit. Jump Up is not only an invitation to practice and celebrate Toynbee's Law of Progressive Simplification, it offers us as well a wealth of worldwide seasonal holidays, rituals, ceremonies, stories, and ancient practices that amplify and honor the transformational opportunities available to us each season.

      Educator Parker Palmer reminds us what a powerful symbol each season is for the movement of life: It suggests that life is neither a battlefield nor a game of chance, but something infinitely richer, more promising, more real. The notion that our lives are like the eternal cycle of the seasons does not deny the struggle or the joy, the loss or the gain, the darkness or the light, but encourages us to embrace it all—and to find in all of it opportunities for growth.

      Throughout recorded history all cultures have devised rituals as a means of handling life's changes. Every society uses ritual to acknowledge the major life transitions of birth, initiation, marriage, and death. The word ritual, in fact, derives from an Indo-European root meaning “to fit together.” It is related to such words as art, skill, order, weaving, and arithmetic, all of which involve fitting things together to create order. Luisah Teish provides us with a seasonal handbook that helps us create a way through sacred intention and conscious actions to fit things together. Essentially, Jump Up is a book that supports making people healthier and happier, and Luisah's great gift is to remind us that life is a mystery to be celebrated and that magic is always afoot.

      PREFACE

      Jump Up is a term used as an expression of great joy. Most often it refers to an