So many rituals associated with Valentine's Day are focused on men or women making a commitment to taking care of their partners. In fact, in the Middle Ages in France and England there was a ritual where a single man picked a single girl's name out of an...

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays, but I rarely gave the real meaning of the holiday -- gratitude -- any real thought. All of that changed after my father died 16 years ago. Life took on new meaning and I was aware of its fragility. Family took...

Someone told me that the average person, when asked how he/she is, answers with the singular word "busy." The sad thing is that no one questions this and assumes it is just the way things are. We have totally lost touch with the sacred ritual of taking time for ourselves...

Cultural historians suspect that the precursor of Father's Day was the ancient Roman holiday of Parentalia, a festival in honor of deceased parents, which occurred between the 13th and 22nd of February. During that period many ceremonies were held, according to the poet Ovid, "to appease the souls of your...

Most of us buy cards or go out for dinner to commemorate Mother's Day, but we rarely realize how far back these celebrations date. Like many other holidays that have been commercialized in modern times, Mother's Day has centuries-old antecedents. Cultures around the world celebrated (and still do) the mother...

In the Native American tradition May is called the month of the flower moon. It is said that the flowers dance at night under this full moon.

In the Celtic tradition, the festival of Beltane on May 1 marked the midpoint between spring and summer. Fires were lit and the...

According to our modern calendar, on March 20, 2012, at precisely 1:14 a.m. EDT (March 20), the sun will cross directly over the Earth's equator. This moment is known as the vernal equinox (from the Latin vernare, to bloom) in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, this is the...

When we think of Valentine's Day we tend to think of chocolate, love, and presents, yet most of us don't know that Valentine's Day has its roots in an ancient Roman fertility festival called Lupercalia. It was a festival celebrating early spring, fertility, the ancestors, and love. The ancient priests...