Validating Our Differences Leads to Deeper Connection...
It's nearly 7pm and the day is bright with lots of it left, it is cooler now, still and quiet...
We are back from an 'outing' to Corfu town - where there was evidence of the traditional pot smashing everywhere, broken bits of ceramic pot scattered on the paving stones below tall buildings... It is a tradition in Greece on Easter Saturday to drop pots filled with water from a great height....
This is what is written about the tradition....
'On Holy Saturday at 11 a.m. the First Resurrection and the "Pot Throwing" custom take place. The philharmonic orchestras and the choirs of the town take part in the litany of the epitaph/funeral biers’ of the town’s patron saint, St. Spyridon, in procession with the Saint's relics. The litany is followed by the celebration of the "Early Resurrection" where balconies in the old town are decked in bright red pieces of cloth. Then the Corfiot’s throw down large clay pots (the co-called botides) that are full of water to smash on the street pavements. This is enacted in anticipation of the Resurrection of Jesus which is to be celebrated that same night when all people gather at the Esplanade to celebrate the Resurrection and enjoy the fireworks! From then on the whole island parties till late in the morning!'
We saw the after effects, but we didn't go to the festival itself... We had an intention to but time has been racing us since we arrived from our 7000 mile journey, and time has won the race, our bodies have been slower than it!
By the time we were ready to make our way to Corfu town the event had happened and we saw the remains of the festivities...
We sat instead in the sun and drank coffee and ate Baclava... I don't really enjoy firework displays, they do not bring me joy. I am not keen on the noise, and I am not keen on crowds... And so missing the pot smashing was not a disappointment to me....!
I can appreciate rituals and gatherings; I can appreciate their meanings and the wonderful spirit in which they gather people together, the colour, the energy and all that they bring to a community... But I have never been uplifted in crowds.... I have preferred not to stay too long....!
Anadi and I are aware that were we to have met thirty years ago we may never have actually been awake at the same time, and so our paths may not have crossed!
Anadi loved crowds then... He was a big influence in the rave scene, he was a musician and he made many best selling 12" singles. There was nothing more uplifting for him than seeing a whole body of people having a wonderful time dancing and connecting to his music...
I was to be found running back then... As I am now, and generally in the opposite direction to night clubs, crowds, parties and firework displays...
As Anadi was making his way to bed at 6am after a night raving or creating music in the studio, he would have met me heading out on the road... Just as I do now...
Honouring our preferences and accepting one another; validating, understanding and moving to recognise our differences is how we can all celebrate together....
And accepting changes within ourselves too... Much of the way I live my life is recognisable to the way I always have, but I am still aware of the changes within me, even in how I approach these ways of living...
But, most importantly I am comfortable that my preferences are okay, that my 'introvert tendencies' around parties and crowds does not make me somehow 'odd' or 'wrong...' In the same way that someone who loves nothing more than a late night party is wrong in any way... We are all different and honouring one another's preferences and differences connects us...
We are connected by validating our differences rather than trying to be the same as each other...
As a younger person I struggled with this, and I was encouraged when I was reassured that a more contemplative nature was 'okay...'
Anadi and I feel honoured to have been invited to the Easter celebrations with Stefanos and his family... There will be seventeen of us celebrating in traditional Greek style over a lamb roasted on a spit....
After running today, I was working on Skype and so Anadi went on a mission to ensure we will not arrive empty handed...
He found a cake shop he says he 'has' to take me to, as there was every cake imaginable and more....
He asked the shop keeper, who didn't speak much English in a packed Easter Saturday shop for guidance as to something appropriate to take as a guest to a traditional Greek Easter feast....
Anadi returned with an Easter cake extraordinaire...!