The silly season is over

From new Year's Eve to Valentine's Day to Carnaval - this silly season, when one needs to be merry by decree, while the real rites and traditions are forgotten.

OK, New Year is a moment of passage, in our part of the world and this version of calendar, but who said it requires doing stupid things like getting wasted, jumping up and down and dancing to bad music?
The day of mandatory "romance" is even worse - how bloody romantic it is to dine in a crowded restaurant because all the other romantic sheep had the same brilliant idea? Not to mention that one dinner changes nothing if the relationship is not going well, and it's meaningless for a true union. Real love needs no dates or overpriced teddy bears, if it's real it just is.
Carnaval, Mardi Gras - has deeper roots, but alas almost forgotten. The authenticity and cultural/anthropological meaning of putting a mask on to expell the last winter deamons and keep them at bay untill spring is nowhere to be seen in Rio's Sambodrome.

Life according to the ancient rhythm of the earth, festivals as old as maknind, the magic, the seasons - all these make more sense than we care to remember. It's so much easier to buy a pink teddy bear and get it done with.