January is a long month. I know there are other months which have exactly the same number of days, but I say again, January is a long month.
Its length is not just to do with the number of days, but with other factors like the weather, the come down after Christmas and New Year. The bills to be paid and the diet and other resolutions that have already fallen by the wayside.
Add to all that the peculiarities of this particular January in 2021 with the effects of Covid-19 and the lockdown most of us are living with. Then factor in all the worries there are about work, juggling childcare and home-schooling as well as caring for elderly family members and the result is that the long month January just gets longer still.
It is even worse for those who are isolating and who are not technically savvy and not able to see family and friends, even virtually.
It is being so cheery that keeps me going. Suddenly hibernation sounds like quite an attractive prospect.
You can understand why communities in days gone by celebrated fire festivals at this time of the year. It gave people something to look forward to but even these ancient practices are not happening in 2021. Up Helly Aa has been postponed for this year – it should have been taking place tomorrow. Now those looking forward to the celebrations will have to wait until January 2022.
We know why this is so. It is incredibly important to keep people safe and not to do anything that might encourage the spread of any strain of the virus that has so rocked our world. But that doesn’t stop such decisions being disappointing.
This time of year would normally be filled, wall to wall, with Burns’ Suppers. Long nights of music, song, speeches and toasts. Not this year. This year haggis can roam free without any fear of being culled in memory of the bard. But then, while it might not be possible for all of us to build and burn boats, it is perfectly possible for us to listen to Burns’ songs and to read or recite some of his poetry.
That said, I am not sure any lockdown is long enough for me to learn the whole of Tam O’ Shanter. I take my hat off to all those who have managed to conquer that particular mountain.
There is so much in Burns’ life and writings that can still speak to us today. His emphasis on seeing all people as equal for example, his thoughts on the political machinations of those in power and the misuse of that power. OK, our national bard had his faults and flaws like the rest of us but there are some gems in there around the need to care for people and for the planet and the need too, to let faith embrace and not exclude, love and not judge.
And there is nothing wrong at all with a bit of romance, albeit with a more limited expression than Burns was used to.
As a man, the poet and songwriter was amazing at noticing details and celebrating them. Things such as lice and mice became the subject matter for poetic wonder and for launching into deeper, more profound thoughts on bigger questions such as the consequences of human intervention in the natural world.
I’m truly sorry Man’s dominion
Has broken Nature’s social union,
An’ justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion
An’ fellow-mortal!
Could Burns, through his poetry, encourage us, in 2021, to take life at a slower pace? Could he prompt us to make the time to notice and enjoy the tiny things in life? Beasties and bugs, the opening of a rose, sowing and harvesting times?
The laughter in trickling streams and the wildness in stormy nights?
What if, instead of getting frustrated at all we cannot do, the places we cannot go and the people we cannot see, we made the time to appreciate the way raindrops bounce off puddles or tried to work out which bird sings which song?
What if we planted seeds in a yoghurt pot or grew cress on a kitchen towel? What if we made a card instead of buying one? And vowed to telephone three friends each month, just for five minutes?
It really is the little things that matter. And breathe.
The Very Rev Susan Brown is minister of Dornoch Cathedral and the former moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland