What Role Do Herbs Play in Your Seasonal Celebrations?

How do you use herbs and food to celebrate seasonal holidays? At different times of the year, you’ll notice different foods and herbs around you. Let’s talk about some ways to really bring them into your life and the meaning of herbs for seasonal celebrations.

Cross-Quarter Days

Are you familiar with the cross-quarter days? These days are the halfway points between a solstice and equinox.

Early February is the cross-quarter between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Then you have May 1, which is halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. August 1 is the halfway point between the summer solstice and the fall equinox. On November 1, you have the cross-quarter day between fall equinox and winter solstice.

These cross-quarter holidays are based on the seasons and cycles of the earth. I really try to stop and acknowledge these in-between days where we’re starting to let go of something and starting to bring in something new. That’s kind of what life is all about — being able to stay in present time, let go of what was, and be open to what’s coming.

Herbs for Seasonal Celebrations

Whatever time of year it is, I encourage you to notice the food, the harvest, and what’s really happening around you. Stop and celebrate the time of year.

We do this as a culture. For example, what do we do at the cross-quarter holiday between fall equinox and winter solstice? We do Halloween. What food do we celebrate? We celebrate the squash or pumpkin. We celebrate the pumpkin so much that we decorate it and light a candle inside.

Then, at Christmas time, which is winter solstice, we have the evergreen tree. We bring the evergreen into our homes and heal ourselves. The aroma heals us, cleans out the year, and makes way for the New Year.

Celebrations like these are rooted in our ancient relationship with the earth where we take in the harvest and create something beautiful with it. Take a moment to think about what herbs and foods you work with for different seasonal celebrations and holidays.

How Deep Is the Meaning?

Let’s acknowledge our relationship with the plants and the earth during these celebrations — and think about the holidays themselves as we look at these rituals.

There are a lot of holidays that I just inherited, and they don’t really have much meaning to me. For example, I like Thanksgiving because it’s one time when everybody in my family got together and sang. But really, the concept of what happened on the original Thanksgiving isn’t that great. What we were taught about it in school is not true. The newest rendition of Thanksgiving was created by the government to stimulate the economy.

A lot of times these rituals, ceremonies, and holidays were given to us, and maybe we haven’t really thought deeply about their meaning. We like them because we like festivals. We love getting together with family. We like the tradition of doing the same thing — not only gathering but eating the same foods and using the same herbs. Almost everybody stuffs their turkey with sage.

What do these seasonal rituals and celebrations mean to you? It’s different for everybody but take the time and really think about them. What are they based on? Are they meaningful to you? What do you want to celebrate?

I would love to hear from you! Each season holds its magic, its food, and its herbs, and I would love to hear what your seasonal celebrations are. Please share in the comments below.