The Great Big Fire
Dec. 13th, 2009 04:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
egypturnashOn the way back from the store, Rik and I got to discussing Christmas. Neither of us is a fan - it's this huge lump of forced "cheer" and consumption that squats over the end of the year like a vicious, unfriendly spider, celebrating a religion we don't believe in. It's a giant minefield of social awkwardness, with all these people giving you gifts that you then have to somehow reciprocate.
But a few years in Boston have taught me the true misery of winter, and the real meaning of Christmas: we need to do something around the winter solstice, to celebrate the fact that it's not getting any worse than this, that the sun is coming back. We need to remind ourselves of color and light without this giant potlach we spend a month and a half preparing for.
So, to that end, we propose a new holiday.
The Great Big Fire is exactly what it sounds like: get together with some friends on the 25th of December and burn some shit. Bring yourself, bring some booze, bring some food, bring whatever intoxicants you like, bring shit to throw on the fire. Bring junk you have, no longer want, and can't work up the effort to dispose of "properly" - it's fuel for the Great Big Fire now! Anyone gauche enough to think this is Christmas and bring a present or five is politely informed that they, too, have brought fuel for the Great Big Fire : "Oooh, thanks for the underwear, Mom! This'll look amazing burning on the Great Big Fire!"
I suspect it's too late to negotiate for having a Great Big Fire this year, but we so need to do this next year once we're out in Seattle.
But a few years in Boston have taught me the true misery of winter, and the real meaning of Christmas: we need to do something around the winter solstice, to celebrate the fact that it's not getting any worse than this, that the sun is coming back. We need to remind ourselves of color and light without this giant potlach we spend a month and a half preparing for.
So, to that end, we propose a new holiday.
The Great Big Fire.
The Great Big Fire is exactly what it sounds like: get together with some friends on the 25th of December and burn some shit. Bring yourself, bring some booze, bring some food, bring whatever intoxicants you like, bring shit to throw on the fire. Bring junk you have, no longer want, and can't work up the effort to dispose of "properly" - it's fuel for the Great Big Fire now! Anyone gauche enough to think this is Christmas and bring a present or five is politely informed that they, too, have brought fuel for the Great Big Fire : "Oooh, thanks for the underwear, Mom! This'll look amazing burning on the Great Big Fire!"
I suspect it's too late to negotiate for having a Great Big Fire this year, but we so need to do this next year once we're out in Seattle.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-22 12:17 pm (UTC)However, people owning large properties in rural areas, farms and stuff, can have a burn permit, and they can make bonfires whenever they like. I've been to a couple of those. Bonfires and fireworks on most ocean beaches are OK too, so long as the fires are way out in the empty part of the estuary, and kept far, far away from the dunes and flora and fauna and other things that would be sad if they caught on fire.