I cannot shake the idea that this day has some magic, somehow. Of course it is a calendar correction, and Wikipedia has a fine article on that. Doubtless you will have been inundated with stories of the folklore of the day as well. Still, a day that exists only once every four years… Not quite exactly, but do read Wikipedia for details.
So here we are, and what is this magic, anyway? I want to dig down, deep down into this feeling; something like being on a cusp. Or perhaps merely the anticipation of Spring? Sigh. By now you will be asking yourself, my imaginary friend, just why you are reading this stream of consciousness.
It has to do, I think, with the idea of reviving a feeling of wonder in the ordinary and the prosaic. The way we used to come together, in the community sense, merely to mark in some shared way all manner of things. The first of May. The harvest. The turning of the tides… These ideas changed over the course of centuries, naturally, though they seem almost ghostly remnants, now.
Well, here is my insignificant contribution to marking this day, this year. Because the magic I believe in is that spark that yearns for connection. Beyond the connection of family and friends, the connection that extends to town, or city, or village, to nation, to culture. That we share some simple experiences, and because we share them, we shall make note.
Me, and my imaginary friend 
Oh. My. Gosh. Well, first, today is my sister’s birthday. She’s technically 16 😉
Next: I go to town. Listening to NPR news brought me all the tidbits of folklore regarding this day.
Next: I return from town, listening to the Teaching Company’s History of Rome with Prof. Garrett Fagan. In today’s lecture, #46, I believe – he talks about the Roman baths as a social gathering place, colorfully filling in around ancient Rome’s strong sense of community – how it continues in many ways today throughout Europe. I ponder rural America’s oft-felt sense of isolation in all its ramifications as pertains to our own lives. Think about how it might be different, once our house sells and we move into a larger and more active community setting.
Then I read this.
Snap!
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Here you are again, my kindly soul-sister, making connection! I, too have been thinking about this – about a move to another community which shall come to fruition this year, I think, and some changes to my life in work and such, which promises a set of richer connections, I think. Oh, I think, I think – and I ought just be…
It appears to be true that we find connecting on a community level more difficult, we North Americans at any rate as Professor Putnam has illustrated in “Bowling Alone”. It seems to me that if there is an antidote, it might lie in simply our shared citizenship (as in citizens of the world) or our shared human-ness, or shared everyday-ness. Oh dear, something like that! Thank you for being here 🙂
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Magic indeed, this idea of connection. It is part of celebration, part of commemoration, and we all need the contemplation of our individual selves juxtaposed to our connectivity. Strange, to use that word on people rather than electronic devices.
May Magic stay with you.
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this feeling of connection is very, very pure and beautiful. i so agree with you. it touches every open heart.
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