Solstice and Welcoming the Yule

A full moon at Solstice! A rare event indeed. Is it technically solstice tonight, or did it arrive last night? According to the charts, the official time was 1:08 am, or very early this morning. So our moon wasn't quite full at Solstice, but very close.

Today we welcomed in the Yuletide by attending a Celtic celebration with music, mummers and carols. The Celtic group Blackbirds and Thrushes held their annual Christmas show at Heritage Farm Museum near Huntington, West Virginia and it was an experience I am glad I did not miss. Combining old carols, poetry, music, a mummers play, and a step dancer, the show was fast-paced and yet a solemn tribute to the music and customs of the past.

This poem was one of those read by a member of the group, and I came home to seek it out online:

So the shortest day came,

and the year died,

And everywhere down the centuries

of the snow-white world

Came people singing, dancing,

To drive the dark away.

They lighted candles in the winter trees;

They hung their homes with evergreen;

They burned beseeching fires all night long

To keep the year alive,

And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake

They shouted, reveling.

Through all the frosty ages you can hear them

Echoing behind us - Listen!!

All the long echoes sing the same delight,

This shortest day,

As promise wakens in the sleeping land:

They carol, fest, give thanks,

And dearly love their friends,

And hope for peace.

And so do we, here, now,

This year and every year.

Welcome Yule!!

Susan Cooper, The Shortest Day

I can't imagine a more fitting way to greet winter. It's a long night and a short day, but that means that slowly but surely light is returning to earth.

Wikipedia tells us that "the word solstice derives from Latin, Winter Solstice meaning "Sun set still in winter." Worldwide, interpretation of the event varies from culture to culture, but most hold a recognition of rebirth, involving festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations.

So if you're celebrating the Yule with music, bonfire, friends and food, you're right on track with the ancients.

My mother always prepared what she called a Yule log, but hers was not a log to be burned on Solstice. Instead, it was a part of the trunk of the past year's Christmas tree, drilled with holes and cut to lay flat. We decorated it with bits of greenery and berries, and three red candles in the center. Since we lived in town and had no fireplace, perhaps this was as close as we could get to the real thing? I wonder if my mother knew what old traditions laid behind her efforts?

The Solstice lit in the official start to Christmas merriment, as this poem by Robert Herrick describes:

Come, bring with a noise,

My merry, merry boys,

The Christmas Log to the firing;

While my good Dame, she

Bids ye all be free;

And drink to your heart's desiring.

With the last year's brand

Light the new block, and

For good success in his spending,

On your Psaltries play,

That sweet luck may

Come while the log is a-tinding.

Drink now the strong beer,

Cut the white loaf here,

The while the meat is a-shredding;

For the rare mince-pie

And the plums stand by

To fill the paste that's a-kneading.

Robert Herrick, Ceremonies for Christmas

The Llewellyns recommend making a solstice wishing candle. A bit late for this year, but perhaps you might make one to burn at New Year's Eve, as we burn our bonfire.

So enjoy the dark and quiet of this first full night of winter, for the coming days will be filled with noise and excitement, and your days will become longer once again.

Welcome, Yule!