Intentional Living

Filling Our Cultural Cup: How to Build Intentional Holidays

Reconnecting with our ancestors, the seasons, and our communities to create meaningful traditions.

Kathleen Austin

21 Feb 2026 — 4 min read

Through a framework called “a threefold society,” we can think of society as having three spheres: political, economic, and cultural. Of course, these spheres are all deeply connected; all of our choices have political, economic, and cultural implications—even, and especially, the choice to do nothing. But these three spheres each provide distinct lenses through which we can view ourselves and the world around us.

An economic lens defines us as buyers and sellers or producers and consumers, and defines the world as resources and property. A political lens defines us as citizens or members of political parties and defines the world as nations and states with boundaries.

A cultural lens defines us as homo sapiens searching for meaning. This includes monks praying for peace, scientists searching for knowledge, and artists striving for creative expression. The cultural lens defines our world as just that, as a planet, circling the sun—a planet which may or may not be in the hands of a divine force or entity, depending on your point of view on life and cosmology. I’m not including flat Earthers here because we don’t have time for that nonsense.

Through cultural holiday celebrations, we can reaffirm our inherent human value and our power to make our own meaning on this spinning sphere circling through space.

Asking the Right Questions

It's up to you how you do discover and reaffirm your sense of meaning. It’s up to you what holidays you celebrate and how you celebrate. But personally, I find that I really need to be intentional about the holidays so that I'm not just sucked into a vortex of patriotic flags and plastic shopping bags.

So, I will share a few questions I like to ask to be more intentional about holidays. These are questions we can ask for any holiday at any time of year to help you connect more with your culture through your ancestors, with your seasonal surroundings, and with your friends and family.

How did our ancestors do things? Our current cultural memory can be depressingly short; for many of us, it’s hard to even remember a time before the iPhone, let alone before refrigeration and global transportation networks. Holiday traditions remind us where we came from—our context in time. We can even find ancient rituals buried in the shelves of Walmart, symbols that have survived the ages: colorful eggs to symbolize rebirth, carved vegetables to ward off wandering spirits, and offerings for gnomes or elves not unlike cookies for Santa. You can search for recipes and stories either from family members or online archives. You don’t have to conform to exactly what they did. You can transform your own culture as you adapt it and make it your own.
Is the light growing or fading? Most of us are detached from natural cycles since we can buy strawberries any time of year and just turn on a light on a dark winter evening. Celebrating light is the core of many ancient, pagan celebrations. You can celebrate light with fire, like a fall campfire as fall days get shorter, or candles in the depth of winter. Or by watching the sunrise or sunset. And of course, you can try getting more seasonal with your holiday menu. Cucumbers and tomatoes may be green and red, but they’re only seasonal in December if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere.
How can we limit screens to connect? Even when family and friends gather together, we are not always engaged with each other. Devices like televisions and smartphones distract our attention in a way that tends to take over and make us passive. With less screen time, try asking what you can actually do together. Instead of stressing about cleaning and cooking everything to perfection on your own, maybe invite your community over to decorate and cook. Try activities like telling seasonal stories, making crafts, or singing songs.

Making Your Own Traditions

You could even ask your friends if they want to try a new holiday or even create your own. Is there a wacky and wonderful celebration we need in our yearly rotation? My husband and I created a Parks and Rec day where we eat breakfast food and do something that reminds us of the characters in that show—it’s become a favorite day. I’ve also gathered with friends to celebrate the summer solstice and the autumn moon festivals, and there are rituals I would love to keep going.

Connecting with community builds the bonds to not only help us survive the current season but also help us to build a better future.

Whether you're celebrating Vulcan First Contact Day or something more normal like Halloween, you can make your own traditions by getting together year after year and seeing what sticks. Together, we can renew our culture. Just like politics and economics affect everything, so does culture. This work is all the more powerful if we fuel it with happier holidays that celebrate love, joy, and our inherent value as human beings—value that has no price and needs no permission: and I think that is something worth celebrating.

So, no matter which holidays are on your horizon, I hope you will ask some of these questions and put them into practice. And as you prepare for the holidays, I hope you will take some time to ponder what culture means to you and how to affirm your inherent value as a human being on this wild spinning rock we call our world.

Kathleen Austin is a Public Waldorf educator, storyteller, and new parent. She mentors teachers nationwide, speaks on creative education in the AI era, and hosts YouTube’s Unenlightened Generalists (100k+ viewers).\

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