Daily Meditation: Wednesday, January 1, 2003

On New Year's Day in some countries it is traditional for …

01/01/2003

On New Year's Day in some countries it is traditional for children to get up very early, go out and knock on their neighbours' doors. As soon as the door is opened, they offer a blessing so that the whole year may be favourable for the people who live there. I also knew this custom in Bulgaria. On the morning of the first day of January, children were sent into the streets to the houses in the neighbourhood to wish everyone a Happy New Year. In their hands they held a small branch of dogwood to which they sometimes tied ribbons, and they had to touch everyone in the house with this branch and wish them well. Because children are pure and innocent, they are thought to bring only good things, and it is important that the year should begin under the auspices of purity and blessings. These are traditions that should be respected, if not outwardly, at least inwardly. On the first day of the year, you too must think of the first visit you will receive, of the first presence you will welcome within you, and prepare yourself. Make sure that this first visitor is the light, so that the whole year will be luminous.