On First Day of Yule - The Winter Solstice

This is one of twelve blogs about the history and symbolism behind our Yule celebrations.  This first blog is about The Winter Solstice and the rebirth of the sun.

The celebration of Winter Solstice (also known as Yule) is one of the oldest winter celebrations in the world.  The festival has been celebrated around the world in one form or another for over four thousand years.  Along the way traditions have been created, reinvented and renamed.   

To Pagans the Winter Solstice is one of the four fire festivals, the time when in the Northern Hemisphere, the night is at its longest and the day at its shortest. Darkness has its victory over light , but only briefly as the solstice marks the turning point and the return of the light.

Winter Solstice is primarily the celebration of the rebirth and hope, but many people associate the Winter Solstice, or winter itself with death.  It is the season in which nature is dormant, and in which many plants die off and crops are scarce. 

To our ancestors it was a crucial time, when the sun reached the point in the calendar where it apparently "stood still" in the sky ("sun stand" is the literal meaning of the word solstice) before beginning the return to longer days and shorter nights - something very significant for people whose survival centred on growing enough food and keeping warm.

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 Winter Solstice was celebrated as the birth of the sun, the birth of light and therefore the birth of life, and ceremonies and rituals were created to try and stimulate the sun's return.

The ancient Persians lit bonfires on the day of the solstice and their rulers would send aloft birds carrying torches of dried grass to try and rouse 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 ... sound familiar?

The Zuni of North America honour the solstice by putting up plates on the walls of their homes which are lit by the suns passing through a small window only one day a year ... the winter solstice.  This reminded me of the winter solstice sun illuminating the passageway and chamber at Newgrange in Ireland.  Once their Sun Priest declares the actual moment of the sun's rebirth the festivities start.  Starting with 12 kachina clowns performing a ritual dance along with effigies of 12 foot high birds who were seen as messengers from the Gods.

Yule is a time throughout time that honours love and new birth, as well as the collective unity of man. It also works well as a date for the birth of Sun Gods, miraculous children that bring new life and new hope into the world.  

The Persians had their Sun God Mithra, who was born, fully grown from a rock on 25th December.  From the Egyptian pantheon we see Isis giving birth to the Sun God Horus on the Winter solstice.  And of course the most well known Sun God of modern day is Jesus Christ, born to the Virgin Mary on 25th December.  The date of Jesus's birth is a much debated topic as it is believed to have been changed to fit with the pre-existing Solstice traditions but that topic is a whole other blog :-)  

Take time out this Winter Solstice from the hustle and bustle of planning your festivities and celebrate the truly important things in life: your family, your children, your home and looking forward to a wonderful year to come.

Tomorrow's blog - Who is Santa?

Sources:

Kitchen Witch Blog

Celebrating Midwinter - Waverly Fitzgerald

Image from Stonehenge tours website