In Trinidad and Tobago , we have seasons like bush. We move from the Christmas season into the Carnival season and then into the Lenten season. Not to mention mango season and guava season.

All of us felt a bit disoriented all through January when the dry season refused to begin. Once, when I was in England during Carnival, I just could not enter the Lenten season. Ash Wednesday did not feel right.

At this time of year we expect the poui season. One tree in our yard threw out a few blossoms and changed its mind. If the poui bloomed all year round we might cease to enjoy its magnificence. We enjoy it while it lasts and stare in awe before the passing parade.

We need rhythms in our lives to keep us sane. Night and day, weeks and months, years. That is why the invention of the sabbath and the rhythm of a seven day week is so necessary for human wholeness. It is more for us that it is so necessary for human wholeness. It is more for us than it is for God. When we live a 24/7 existence, we self-destruct.

Let the Carnival begin. It is an extended Sabbath, the action is here. We celebrate all that makes us who we are. We take part in the passing parade. And at 12 pm Tuesday, we turn off the music and put on our sackcloth and ashes.