A Rambling Writer Rerun: Winter Solstice Greetings!
On this shortest day and longest night of the year, especially in my native northern clime, I must honor ancient traditions and celebrate the turning of the Great Wheel. And return of the light!
Long before Christmas celebrations stepped in to absorb pagan festivals of winter solstice, Europeans from Greece on up into Nordic lands honored their deities of winter and petitioned with ceremonies the return of the sun and longer days. Here in the Pacific Northwest, in the “far corner” of the western U.S., we hunker down during the gloomy days when sunset arrives at 4:00 pm, and rain clouds make it dark even during the short days. “Forest bathing” helps me stay grounded, but more light would help!
It’s no accident that Europeans from earliest times, especially those in northern latitudes, developed rituals and celebrations to lighten the gloom and bring back the sun and essential fertility of the earth. I make a practice of lighting candles on my garden shrines to honor the nature spirits, along with modern holiday lights festooning the house to brighten our moods.
Most of us are familiar with the Northern European Yule traditions that were folded into common Christmas lore. According to https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/paganism/holydays/wintersolstice.shtml
“The Pagan celebration of Winter Solstice (also known as Yule) is one of the oldest winter celebrations in the world.
“Ancient people were hunters and spent most of their time outdoors. The seasons and weather played a very important part in their lives. Because of this many ancient people had a great reverence for, and even worshipped the sun. The Norsemen of Northern Europe saw the sun as a wheel that changed the seasons. It was from the word for this wheel, houl, that the word yule is thought to have come. At mid-winter the Norsemen lit bonfires, told stories and drank sweet ale.
“The ancient Romans also held a festival to celebrate the rebirth of the year. Saturnalia ran for seven days from the 17th of December. It was a time when the ordinary rules were turned upside down. Men dressed as women and masters dressed as servants. The festival also involved decorating houses with greenery, lighting candles, holding processions and giving presents.” [Later Romans honored an incarnation of the Greek sun god Helios, here in the sanctuary at Bath in present-day England.]
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You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s novel from Book View Cafe is available in print and ebook: The Ariadne Connection — a near-future thriller set in the Greek islands. “Technology triggers a deadly new plague. Can a healer find the cure?” The novel has received the Chanticleer Global Thriller Grand Prize and the Cygnus Award for Speculative Fiction. Sara is at work on the sequel, The Ariadne Disconnect. Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com
