"tis the season...."

We are, in some way, still in the the season of holly and jolly and as, Terry Pratchett says via Susan Death, other things ending in 'olly'.

I suppose at the back of our minds the spectre that lurks at all feasts lingers, but for many it really is not a merry time, or even a time at all that they want to remember - family dying, hunger, poverty, oppression - and yet they are forced to confront these memories again and again as each year rolls by. What do they do on these days? When all around cheer and they are exhorted in the media to celebrate, what do they feel? Where do they go to escape the incessant commercial pressure of the day and the season?

Even though many have blogged and commented about how, in Korea, Christmas and Easter are not really celebrated to the same extent as in America etc., there is still a lot of it all around - in stores, on TV - enough at least to cause pangs in those who live with loss and grief.

I wish them the waters of the Lethe at this time!