This time of year a good many of us make a kind of a special thing about being jolly. Those who would choose to scorn or poo poo the idea of any kind of cheeriness have had their opportunity all year to be gloomy. They need to let up a bit now, at least for these few festive days when strangers and friends and family want to take time to joyfully wish each other 'Seasons Greetings'.
Being jolly is not all folly, and if it is, it's a kind of folly that often leads to such positive things as art and music and dance. Follies (fanciful structures of stone, of all kinds) are similar magical whimsical expressions of something inside us that refuses to always be solemn, somber and drearily pragmatic. A folly is a kind of architectural wish - a permanent installation giving substance to our desire to have that ephemeral something (can we call it joy ?) last for more than a season. Happy folly holidays !
