What's Old Is Old Again

This time of year is occasionally a time of reflection and renewal of hopes and objectives in many religious and cultural traditions.  Particularly in the US, once the obligation to bulwark the sputtering economy has been met.

I began to ponder, for whatever reason, the surprising-to-some news that - even as we acknowledge the relative newness of Supply Chain Management (first coined in 1982) - its elements have been around as important components of human endeavor since at least as far back as the Iron Age.  The, e.g., Plan-Source-Make-Deliver application to Stonehenge, an Egyptian Pharoah's venture into commercial warehousing, Roman road networks all serve as examples.

In the holiday universe, we tend to focus on Christmas and Chanukkah, but peoples around the globe observe - and have since well before the advent of the Common Era - a variety of (approximately) winter solstice feasts and events.  In the temperate climates of Europe, having survived the year was worth remarking on, and imploring blessings that would allow getting through oncoming winter was a prudent move.

But, there are festivals throughout Asia, Africa, and the (warmer) Mediterranean countries.  In Scandinavia, the Germanic lands, and the British Isles, the practices date back to what we sometimes call the pagan era.

So, over the past couple of millennia, established Western religious practices have been linked up with the earlier observances, even to the extent of borrowing the birth date of Rome's Sol Invictus.

Whatever your spiritual persuasion in this time of year, I do wish you all the best for the Season, and health, happiness, and prosperity for 2013.