HOLY DAYS

I suspect Heavenly Father knew it wasn't going to turn out well when calendaring was taken out of the hands of the likes of Moses, Shamans and Confucius and usurped by the likes of Gregory, Caesar and governmental agencies.

When religious leaders were doing the calendaring, whether by revelation or by watching the movements of the heavenly bodies, special celebratory days pretty much fit into the definition of holiday provided by Wikipedia. ‘The word holiday comes from the Old English word hāligdæg (hālig "holy" + dæg "day"). The word originally referred only to special religious days.’

Once monarchies, tyrants and men in general took over the calendaring, holidays became any special day of rest or relaxation, as opposed to normal days away from work or school. It is particularly revealing to see the secularized calendar of today filled with days dedicated to the birth of people and nations rather than remembrances of Divine occasions.

Having witnessed the de-holification of Holy Days we should have been forewarned that men would also be about the business of changing The Sabbath and The Day of the Lord into ‘the weekend’. I will have to leave a more thorough writing on that subject for another day.

Well, maybe just one more comment on the way we have moved days intended for worship and remembrance of God into days meant solely for the use of men. I think it is best described by using the words found in most employee/employer contracts these days - ‘personal days.’

Let us return to our thinking about Holy Days being supplanted by holidays.

For my own personal gratification I have decided to suggest the use of the following subtitles for those days designated as holidays in the USA. I apologize to those readers of these Thoughts who reside outside of the USA calendar, but perhaps you could make up a similar group of subtitles to the non-Holy Day holidays on you country’s government issued calendars.

New Year’s Eve – New Year’s Day => Raucous Celebration Period which ends with an unusual increase in highway deaths and severe headaches.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day => A day to remember the life of one who spent his life preaching oneness, which usually ends magnifying our differences.

Presidents Day => A day set apart when the number of historically significant presidents became so numerous that we could no longer give them their own day.

Valentine’s Day => A day set apart to bring joy to florists, greeting card companies, chocolate makers and high end restaurant owners.

St. Patrick’s Day => A day to drink green beer, eat corn beef and cabbage and walk down the street staggering and smelly.

Good Friday => A day to drop by the Cathedral before resuming your regular activities.

Flag Day => How would you know this was a day any different than any other day, day.

Armed Forces Day => You’ve got to be kidding me day – do we really have a holiday called Armed Forces Day?

National Maritime Day => Now I absolutely know you have to be kidding me day.

Memorial Day => So that was what all those other holidays this month were leading up to day.

D –Day => In case someone was forgotten last month day.

United States Army Birthday => You have been given ample time to fly the Flag Day – now fly it.

United States Coast Guard Birthday => See previous six comments day.

This veteran’s generated calendar is getting too repetitive. I am going to switch to another calendar to add some variety.

Purim => Remembering a dance that freed a people day.

Easter Sunday => Chocolate rabbits, colored eggs, baskets and something about the Resurrection Day.

Earth Day => Remembering our blue marble by enlarging our personal foot print day.

Arbor Day => A day to plant a tree while celebrating our forest destroying life styles.

Ramadan => What do you mean you want to spend time actually thinking about your faith day?

Mother’s Day => Celebration of all women everywhere day once again causing the hearts of florists, candy makers greeting card vendors and restaurant owners to swell.

Father’s Day => Really there is a day called Father’s Day?

Independence Day => A day to celebrate the continuing argument about who deserves independence.

Labor Day => A day where we ironically celebrate labor by not laboring.

Grandparents Day => The one holiday which almost gives relevance to Father’s Day.

Rosh Hashanah => More days where our stomachs help us remember our faith.

Yom Kippur => The day when we are left to stimulate our faith without the help of hunger.

Columbus Day => A Special Day still found on the USA calendar, but not highly favored in the rest of the Americas.

Halloween => Costume makers are added to those whose hearts are made full along with candy makers day. Do I see a trend here? I don't even dare to add my thoughts on what we are having our children dress up in remembrance of.

Thanksgiving Day => A day where the candy makers yield the ringing of cash registers to the purveyors of turkeys, pies, weird veggies partaken only on this one day a year and watching grown men run around on grass yielding themselves physically worthless for a minimum of a week.

Christmas Day => The mass was removed from most Christian lives years ago and the removal of Christ from this day is quickly following as worn out shoppers, partiers and dysfunctional family gatherings become dominated by personal traditions.

Which brings us back to New Year‘s Eve => Feel free to slide back up to the start and begin again. Also feel free to add any of your personal favorite non-
Holy Day, holidays I might have over looked.

As I end the writing of this satirical piece, let me remove my tongue from where it has been deeply imbedded into my cheek and add a few words of seriousness.

Long ago I read a piece by Hugh Nibley where he indicated that secularism and scholasticism are the arch enemy of religiousness. I believe the Thoughts I have written down with this calendaring exercise indicate how deeply I believe our Holy Days have be affected by the philosophies of men.

I don't think I really mind men having days off from their daily grinds to rest and recuperate, but I do find it extremely difficult to handle the invasion which has been made on those days which were meant to be used to worship and remember our Eternal Parentage and our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ.

As we approach the celebration of the babe born of Mary in a humble stable, I pray we might shop a bit less, wrap fewer gifts, party less and think more about the birth, mission, Atonement and Resurrection of our Redeemer. If there really are consequences which come because of the choices we make, it might do us all well to spend some thought about what we collectively will eventually reap because we have chosen to remove Holy Observance from our holidays.

THOUGHTS FOR A SABBATH DAY – WILLIAM L. RILEY

EDITED BY – KATHLEEN W. RILEY