- A Modern Take On Celebrating The Winter Solstice
We live in a fast paced, work-a-day world where everyone runs at full tilt towards the elusive goal of happiness and success. Many of us experience the winter holidays as an onerous duty filled series of events. Most of us celebrate the holidays as we were taught to through our religious (or lack thereof) upbringings. But regardless of how you were raised, if you live in the Northern Hemisphere, there is one thing that is common to all; The Winter Solstice. It is that precarious balancing act of light and dark where we experience the longest night as well as the shortest day for the whole year.
With our modern conveniences and technology, we often take this time of year for granted and look upon the winter as something to play in on the slopes or to simply enjoy for its natural beauty. Many of us take no notice of the Winter Solstice as it slides by us on our busy way to Christmas. We are caught up in the hurly-burly of shopping, planning and travel.
Yet in ages past and even up to as late as the early twentieth century, Winter Solstice has always marked a turning point in our year. To the people of Celtic lands, Winter Solstice marked the turning point for the Winter and the dark times of the year when survival was at its lowest ebb. Communities would come together and often share with each other or with those less fortunate so that everyone could survive. Vigils and ceremonies were held, especially fire ceremonies to help encourage the sun to come back with his promise of summer and a good growing season. Virtually, all of our common holiday ‘traditions’ come from these ancient rites aimed at our continued survival and seeking blessing from the greater powers of nature and of the divine.
Today modern Celtic peoples celebrate these events in various ways and not always on the Winter Solstice itself.
In Scotland there is the festival of Hogmanay, which always includes a fire celebration, which may be as little as marching through the village with flaming torches, chanting, or building a huge bonfire and watching it burn all night to even swinging round huge balls of fire in a dance reminiscent of the Dervishes of the Middle East. After, of course there is the required revelry of feasting drinking and dancing long through the night, oft times into the next day.
In the Shetland Islands, there is the traditional Viking invasion, with a horde of Vikings in full regalia marching into the village and being given the town as their own for the day. By the evening they bring in their full scale Viking war ship which is then burned with much pomp and circumstance.
Modern Druids celebrate the Winter Solstice through the festival of Alban Arthan, (Light of Winter or Light of Arthur, in Welsh) where they perform solemn as well as joyous rites in celebration of the Solstice and also stand vigil for the actual moment itself, acting as shepherds for the light of the sun for that one day. Thus marks the end of the rule of the Holly King and begins the rule of the Oak King. Alban Arthan is a ceremony of renewal and rebirth that welcomes the light of the sun back into our lives to warm us and nurture us.
In ancient times, the Yule Log was a large log of Oak (symbol of the Sun God or the Oak King) and was burned to help bring back the power of the sun and to help release the essence of the Oak King. The log had to burn throughout the night of the Solstice without fail or bad luck would come. This later became the smaller Yule log we know now as a log burned in the home during this same time. This has been further refined in today’s technology driven world to a simple log ornament where a candle is held and kept alight throughout the night.
The celebration of Christmas as we know it now is based upon it’s older pre-Christian celebrations of the Winter Solstice. The choice of December 25 was made by the Pope Julius I in the fourth century AD, as this coincided with the celebration of Winter Solstice. The intent was to replace the Pagan celebration with the Christian one. This helped bring more people into the fold of Christianity.
Yet, why should we, in our enlightened, technological age, celebrate the Winter Solstice at all? Isn’t it all just a bunch of superstitious hooey, to bend us to the will of others, or to keep us cowed by the forces of nature? Isn’t the modern world capable of doing without such antiquated celebrations?
Mankind has always run on belief and faith. This is one thing that sets us apart from many other creatures. Everyone has beliefs, even Atheists. But the celebration of Winter Solstice has its origins in the very real and sanguine world of day to day survival. If it became too cold for too long or you ran out of food, water or shelter, you died. The Winter Solstice is a gesture of faith in our fellow human being as well as a gesture of faith in the world, and those forces we may not always be able to perceive.
If nothing else, Winter Solstice is a time for us to get out of our holes and get together with others, whether family, friends or perfect strangers and take some little time to take stock of ourselves a bit; looking forward to the coming new year and the return of the warmth. Most of us profess to wanting to become closer to the natural world, to be able to slow down a little to enjoy a little of life’s rich bounty. Celebrating Winter Solstice gives us that opportunity to enjoy a little nature, to enjoy a little company of family and friends; to enjoy a little bit of yourself with yourself.
No matter how you celebrate it, whether with ceremony, prayer, reveling, dancing or chanting at a fire, taking a little time to at least acknowledge the Winter Solstice can help you stay at least a little bit more in tune with the cycles of nature and the real world around you.
Tags: Celtic Holy Days, Celtic Spirituality // Add Comment »
