catapult magazine

vol. 12, num. 22 :: 2013.11.29 — 2013.12.12

‘Tis the season to consider how our celebrations reflect our deepest values...or not. As we head into the holiday season, contributors share their stories about how they celebrate various occasions, from the big ones like Thanksgiving and Christmas, to the smaller ones, like International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Feature

Splendid gratitude

by Sami Wilson

On slowing down enough to see what there is to celebrate.

Editorial

On a roll

by Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma

To bake or not to bake: that is the question.

Articles

Celebrate in gratitude

by Viola Ruelke Gommer

A tradition of remembering those who have touched our lives.

Holy days

by Karissa Knox Sorrell

Experiencing the sacred, from Theophany to Songkran.

Tradition transitions

by Jim Schmotzer

Why Thanksgiving never will be -- and never has been -- the same.

Celebrating in the darkness

by Jan Roberts Culpepper

Suffering with others on the longest night of the year.

A time for feasting

by Tamara Murphy

A mother’s wise advice still applies.

The stories of Christmas

by Meredith McCaskey

On carrying a family tradition beyond childhood.

Old tree, new tree

by Josh Mosey

How tightly should we hold traditions when circumstances change?

In case you missed it the first time

Reclaiming Mardi Gras

by Marty Sartini Garner

A Louisiana native provides a closer look at Mardi Gras, a traditional time of celebration before Lent.

A peaceable feast

by Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma

Navigating family culinary traditions around the holidays with grace and vision.

Weaving the web

Poultry Slam

This American Life

Stories of what happens when humans and fowl collide, including the tale of one notorious turkey who unleashed a long reign of terror on an unsuspecting neighborhood.

The secularization of Thanksgiving and the sacralization of the military

Fors Clavigera

To whom are we thankful? As Thanksgiving is secularized, Americans turn to the military to offer thanks.

daily asterisk

Even in a country you know by heart
its hard to go the same way twice
the life of the going changes.
The chances change and make a new way.
Any tree or stone or bird
can be the bud of a new direction. The
natural correction is to make intent
of accident. To get back before dark
is the art of going.

Wendell Berry
“Traveling at Home” from Traveling at Home

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