Jump Up: Good Times Throughout the Seasons with Celebrations from Around the World

by Luisah Teish

Virtually all peoples of the world celebrate the passage of seasons. The continual movement of time through winter, spring, summer, and autumn has framed human experience and profoundly affected the lives of individuals and communities for many thousands of years.

Celebrations that mark the seasons are rich with food, music, dance, offerings, and the reenactment of myth. "Jump Up" (titled after a Caribbean phrase that is used to describe a celebration) is meant to reacquaint readers with these traditions and to give them suggested practices for honoring past traditions in new ways.

African traditions form the core of the book, and ceremonies and practices from Europe, Asia, the Americas, and the South Pacific are interwoven throughout. Readers will encounter the origin of well-known holidays and, at the same time, learn about others that are unknown in the Western world. Some of the more familiar cultural-based seasonal holidays that appear in this book include Christmas, New Year's Day, Mardi Gras, Palm Sunday, Easter, May Day, Day of the Dead, and the African American holiday of Kwaanza.Each season's story is accompanied by recipes, suggestions and guidelines for rituals to help readers create their own celebrations. One winter ritual, complete with instructions, is the Ritual of the Cleansing Fire, and an autumn ritual is the Building of the Autumn Equinox Altar. The recommended rituals are generic, and they can be done in conjunction with or in place of traditional holidays. Laced with myth, folklore, and poetry, Jump Up celebrates life, enlivens the spirit, and strengthens the bonds of community.

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 30, 2000

Reviews

[Onyx · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't have plans to read a book during the end of one year and the beginning of the other, but that's what happened. Maybe because it was two days after Winter Solstice and it seemed appropriate at the time. I found myself reading it much quicker than I anticipated without putting it down to get back to it someday, as I have been doing lately with books. Eh, it was a book on international celebrations throughout the turning of the seasons.
I admit I'm not a fan of ritual for the sake of ritual...for the most part, unless it's a Catholic mass, it's got to do something. It has to accomplish something besides performing flourishing theatrical motions to butter up the gods. It may look pretty, but it serves no truly useful purpose. So the book gave me a lukewarm impression.
It was alright. It has a few mistakes in it in terms of information though. Example: P. 34. The word "Tannenbaum" is a German word, not a Celtic (Keltic) word; P. 20. Persephone ate six pomegranate seeds, not just three...also, she ate them because she was hungry, not because she was tricked into it. The Lord of Death happened to be called Hades...It was not just the name of his underworld; P. 135. Osiris' penis was eaten by a fish, not a spider. There are at least a couple more mistakes, but that's enough to mention for now.
The author's strongpoint is best seen in the knowledge she has in the New Orleans culture and experience. She's a storyteller and a mystic, so I have to cut her some slack with her writing style. I've already read her previous book, "Jambalaya," so it's not like this author is new to me. I do need to go back, buy my own copy of the book, and re-read it, since it's been a long time back when I read it the first time.

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting traditions, but not very useful format or content.