The Art Of... Celebration

At some point in recent decades, we lost the art of celebration. Perhaps this is our chance to rediscover it, writes ANNA HART.

- Anna Hart.

Around a year ago, I realised I was terrible at celebrating stuff. This took me by surprise because I spent a lot of time in fancy restaurants, crowded parties, theatres and hotels. I could have argued that it’s my job to know the best ways to celebrate, not just in my town, but in destinations all over the globe. As a travel writer, surely I am a celebration hunter?

Nope. A nice experience is not the same thing as a celebration. A celebration requires us to be fully in the moment, basking in glory, contentment, relief or even sorrow, whatever the celebration requires. We need to taste the present moment, feel the present moment, hear the present moment. Celebrating is about wallowing in the now, like a warm Jacuzzi.

Celebrating is not an easy thing to do if you’re a 21st-century human. My life was not short of lavish experiences and pleasant sensations, but even though I tried to call them celebrations, and Instagrammed them as such, I just wasn’t moving slowly enough to truly celebrate.