… and tomorrow will be beyond imagining.
I don’t quite know why – perhaps it’s the atmosphere of the book, or the sense of mystery that surrounds a dead world – but I always read ‘The Dark is Rising’ at this time of year. I guess it’s a Christmas tradition.
Susan Cooper’s words remind me so strongly of the English countryside, they are rooted so deeply in real places – places I know, places I can see and smell when I read them – that they almost make me feel homesick.
Almost.
But the real reason I love her stories is because they’ve grown from the legends I grew up with, Wayland the Smith, Herne the Hunter, the Old Ways, Tethys and the Green Witch, King Arthur and his sleeping knights. They’re steeped in English history, heritage, and folklore. And this is a time of year for remembering. Because by remembering, we bring the world back to life. Because it’s not dead, it’s just sleeping for a while.
“The Walker is abroad, he said again, “and this night will be bad, and tomorrow will be beyond imagining.” The Dark is Rising, Susan Cooper.
My brother just picked this up off my shelf! It doesn’t seem quite so much the time of year for it in Texas (no snow, for one thing!), but I know what you mean.
I may have to bug you about some of those stories (the old stories) later on.
My traditions at this time of year are not as literary. They include A Charlie Brown Christmas, A Christmas Story, Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman–because I remember as a child watching all these holiday specials with my father(except A Christmas Story). Every year of my childhood we watched, and when my kids were little, I watched them again always thinking of my dad.
Annie, you’re very welcome to bug me about any of them.
Branwyn – I’m a Charlie Brown’s Christmas girl too.
I guess, as you point out, it’s the memories that make these traditions special.
Charlie Brown’s Christmas is my favorite holiday music CD
My traditions for this time of year include making a mess in the kitchen, making great plans to send all sorts of people Christmas cards and failing to do so, and getting a headache reading up on things I only do once a year in the Access database at work.
My newest traditions are: Writing feverishly to finish a novel in time to start the Penman Shipwreck with a seperate one, checking the mail for SASE’s with rejection slips in them, and daydreaming how it will feel to tell everyone I made the big time