Oh sweet November, it wasn’t so long ago that I wasn’t a fan. I viewed this month as a series of gray and dreary days spanning the gap from October’s golden glow to December’s twinkling light. Crazily enough, it was a Pinterest post shared by my daughter last year that changed my mind. “November is for poets,” it read. Probably not a novel idea to those more in tune to the world of poetry, but for myself, it was novel and it sparked a journey of pondering that now, full celestial circle, I am still on. What is it about this month that sparks the imaginations of so many would be poets? The quiet fading of Autum’s golden light and the landscape being stripped bare of color and sound for many brings with it a sense of longing and loss worth a poet’s pen and artist’s brush. I cannot say this sentiment makes me anymore a fan.
In Anne of the Island, LM Montgomery writes, “It was November—the month of crimson sunsets, parting birds, deep, sad hymns of the sea, passionate wind-songs in the pines. Anne roamed through the pineland alleys in the park and, as she said, let that great sweeping wind blow the fogs out of her soul.”
Crimson sunsets, ah there is it. November is the season for chasing light. It is not, in fact, a month of dark days like an empty unlit room standing between summer’s sunny entry and winter’s kitchen hearth. It is a bridge with its own light, but you must chase it. In the evenings I look out over the vineyard across our road as the sun wanes in the sky and the bare vines become silhouetted in the fading light and just as it seems I will be immersed in total darkness the sky is set on fire, the world is gold and pink and colors indescribable.
This has me thinking. Perhaps, just as the physical light of this season needs to be sought after, we also need to chase interior light. Rather than succumbing to the melancholy often brought on by the wanning of yet another year, perhaps we might seek a new mindset, find bright moments and bright people and as Anne let the “wind blow the fogs out of her soul” we let that brightness light the dark corners in our souls. But I wouldn’t leave it there. When we’ve found our interiors are all aglow, could we not then send that glow out to bless those around us?
Martinmas, the feast of St. Martin of Tours, known for sharing his cloak with a naked beggar on a freezing night, is celebrated November 11th. As do many families around the world, ours celebrates by holding a Lantern Walk. We head out into the dark vineyard carrying homemade lanterns and singing songs about light. After our walk through the frost covered vineyard under a sky frosted with stars we return home to our cozy kitchen to enjoy hot chocolate, mulled wine, and shortbread. It’s a wonderful reminder for our family and anyone who might happen to see us that it is not enough to simply chase the light, but, when it is found, we must in turn become the light shining in the darkness.
Hannah