Winter Solstice
December in the northern hemisphere is cold and dark, fields lie barren, houses are drafty and the sun rides low in the
sky, almost hugging the horizon. On the winter solstice, which occurs around the 21st, the sun will make is lowest arc in
the sky, it will rise late and set early, leaving us in the darkness of the longest night of the year. For our ancestors,
this was a time of uncertainty. The last of the harvest had been gathered, fields lay frozen, illness and disease threatened
and it looked as if the darkness may finally win out over the light. Today, produce shelves are filled with hothouse fruits
and vegetables well into the depths of winter and few of us are directly concerned with having enough food to sustain herds
of livestock through the winter. Yet on an inner, deeper level, we still feel the tide of the season, spiraling inward
toward family, the hearth and the self.
As much as the winter solstice is about repose, it is about rejuvenation, renewal and rebirth. Under the surface, the earth is far from dormant. Decomposition is occurring, changing the dead remnants of last year’s crop into a source of nutrition for the next sowing. A tradition from Scotland illustrates an early understanding of the transference of fertility from one season to the next. During the solstice season, animals were feed the last sheaves of grain from the previous harvest so that they may thrive in the coming year. The theme of rebirth is illustrated in the heavens. When the sun reaches the apex of its transit; it will begin its journey back northward, bringing light, life and promise back to the northern hemisphere. This celestial event is personified in the birth of the sun child, variously named Apollo, Horus, Mithra, Huitzilopochli and Jesus but always conceived of a child of promise and light.
Many ancient celebrations took place over a period of days that extended on both sides of the solstice or for a period
of days afterward when the lengthening of the days became more apparent. In Egypt, twelve day celebrations began with the
final rites of the embalming of Osiris and culminated with the birth of his son, Horus the sun god. In Babylonian
mythology, the god Marduk battled the monsters of winter for twelve days beginning five days before the solstice. When
the sun rose renewed on the solstice it was a sign that he god was overtaking the monsters and would go on to defeat the
last of them during the remaining 6 days of the festival. In the Greek world, the god of vegetation was mourned at
funerary rites and his rebirth was celebrated with feasting and ritual on the solstice. These ancient festivals acknowledge
the darkness from which light is born, the sacrifice that is made in order for the cycle to turn.
This necessary polarity is also illustrated in the mythos of the Oak King and the Holly King. At the winter solstice,
the Holly King’s rule over the waning year is coming to a close. He lords over darkness, the harvest, and the sacrifice
and it is now time for the cycle to turn again. On the solstice, he will battle his counterpart, the Oak King, lord of the
waxing year and growing light. The Oak King assumes the throne until the summer solstice when the battle of opposites will
rage again. The Kings are sometimes thought of as brothers, or are exemplified in myths as monsters of darkness and a god
of light as in the Babylonian myths of Marduk who battle during the solstice season. In Greece, Rome and Britain, the
hunting of the Wren by the Robin is a reflection of this theme. The Robin finds the Wren hiding in ivy bush or holly trees,
both of which are associated with the Wren, and kills him, vanquishing the darkness at least until the summer solstice.
The characters change but the concept remains the same, without one side of the polarity, the other can not exist.
For the Norse and Anglo-Saxon people, the winter solstice and the return of the sun marked the beginning of a new year. Yule, a common name for the season, comes from either the Norse ‘iul’ meaning ‘wheel’ or the Anglo-Saxon ‘geola’ meaning ‘yoke’ as in ‘yoke of the year’. Rites and vigils were held and bonfires lit to guide and lure back the sun through the longest night and at first light bells were rung to herald the dawn and purify the air. The modern tradition of the pine tree comes to us from Germanic and Norse people who viewed the tall evergreen as a symbol the heights which the soul could reach and of life in the death of winter. The modern new year also begins around the time of the solstice and though, many people who are influenced by the Celtic calendar celebrate the new year at Samhain, it keeps with our personal tradition and our perception of the wheel of the year for us to celebrate the new year on the solstice. The pine tree of old can also be easily brought into Yule celebrations as can many other traditional decorations and themes.
Many people decry the Christianization of the season, but there is another way to look at the situation. If over time, ancient religions and pantheons merged and melded as we know they did, it is not so different for Christianity to have preserved many of the pagan themes it absorbed. This assumption of pagan concepts and themes allows the winter solstice season to be one of the most openly celebrated Sabbats on the wheel of the year, even if not everyone knows the true meaning of your decorations. This is also one of the few times when the name is of little importance, it is the feeling, sense and energy of the season that is being celebrated and honored as the wheel turns once again.
May the Yule log burn,
the wheel of life turn,
evil be spurned.
The sun has returned!
Continue to Winter Solstice Correspondences
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