-- An example from Solstice of a “symbolic” ritual is the spreading-candle-lighting thing. I quite like the symbolism, but also, there’s a hollowness; it’s transparently symbolic, and on some level what’s communicated to me is less “the people around me will share their light with me, and I mine with them” and more “the people around me will participate in a showy performance of solidarity with an aesthetic, to trick me into trusting them, and I’ll go along with it out of fear”. It may almost as well be a high school pep rally.
Interesting, I really love it and miss when Solstice doesn’t include the candle lighting. But then I just quite like rituals in general and in fact enjoy the rituality of everyday life (the ritual of walking into a room and turning on the light, the ritual of sitting down at my desk and opening my laptop and typing in my password, etc.). I wonder what causes some folks to like rituals so much and others to find them deeply uncomfortable?
This seems quite relevant to figuring out how to design something like a Solstice celebration that people will like.
Interesting, I really love it and miss when Solstice doesn’t include the candle lighting. But then I just quite like rituals in general and in fact enjoy the rituality of everyday life (the ritual of walking into a room and turning on the light, the ritual of sitting down at my desk and opening my laptop and typing in my password, etc.). I wonder what causes some folks to like rituals so much and others to find them deeply uncomfortable?
This seems quite relevant to figuring out how to design something like a Solstice celebration that people will like.