Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Winter Solstice

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Winter Solstice

    Do you do anything special for the Winter Solstice/Yule?

    Also does anyone know what day it is this year? I heard tonight but I also heard tomorrow night
    Last edited by Guest; 21 Dec 2011, 18:53.

    #2
    Re: Winter Solstice

    Tomorrow is the shortest day (22nd), but some people start their celebrations on the eve of the Solstice, which is the longest night. I have always considered the Solstice to be the event and Yule to be the celebration. Here in the UK, a special event happened tonight. A lot of British Pagans have gone down to Stone Henge to recreate some apparently ancient march from Stone Henge to Amesbury carrying lanterns. Some of my friends have gone down there. The henge itself will not be open until tomorrow morning (or this morning, as it is already 3.09 am here).

    As for what I am doing. I am at work until the weekend sadly. Tomorrow, I will visit my mum, have a Yule dinner and exchange presents. I can't drink or anything because of being on night shifts, so I have moved the celebrations to Saturday. I'll do the Yule Log ritual then, because it is best done followed by feasting!

    Rather than use a real log and burn it, I use a decorated chocolate log with a candle in. The candle burning represents the returning light. The log is then cut into slices to be shared amongst loved ones. This is a tradition started by my coven that I just like so much that I still like to do it every Yule. There are of course lots of other little traditions I indulge in at this time, but it would take ages to list them all and I imagine it would get quite boring.

    ---------- Post added at 03:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:19 AM ----------

    Oh also, there is already a thread for this. Maybe a mod could move this one somehow? I dunno how it works. Here's the link to the other one.

    http://www.paganforum.com/showthread...-Yule-Solstice
    Last edited by Jembru; 21 Dec 2011, 19:21.
    夕方に急なにわか雨は「夕立」と呼ばれるなら、なぜ朝ににわか雨は「朝立ち」と呼ばれないの? ^^If a sudden rain shower in the evening is referred to as an 'evening stand', then why isn't a shower in the morning called 'morning stand'?

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Winter Solstice / Yule

      Basically on the eve of yule (dec 21st this year) I will light the yule log and leave it lit all night. This to me represents that I am welcoming back the suns return to our earth, and I am thanking the divine for creating the light. However since I dont leave candles unattended , I will stay up the whole night. I am usually by myself, so I will light candles to be light all night, and have some holiday lights on. Throughout the night I will do a meditation, I will put prayers into a prayer box every hour saying something like "another hour as gone until the sun is reborn, thank you divine for _____" I do this because its like a little count down session for me and during these little sessions I thank the divine for what they have done. Then an hour before dawn, I will do the yule ritual. I like to do it before because inside of me I have a feeling that tells me to do this. Then I will go outside and watch the sun be reborn , and take all of my prayers and I will burn them and scatter them back to earth, and then I will get ready for my day. The day of yule, I will give presents to my friends, I will think and thank the gods mentally, and I will have a dinner with my family. So basically the eve of yule I just wait for the sun and thank the divine, and on the day just comune with family friends and be happy. This is how I celebrate yule, nothing really special, hope you have/had a great yule. I am in the process of staying up the whole night and its like 3:32 am, have a great yule and blessed be

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Winter Solstice

        That's really nice Wind. I like it. I was up all night too, but because I work. It's weird you know, because at Litha, I'll celebrate from the night before. 'Noon to noon' as they say. Yet at Yule, even though I know plenty others, like those who joined THOUSANDS at Stone Henge last night, who celebrate from the night before, I just don't feel it.

        I think it is like.. one would celebrate the birth of a child AFTER it arrives, so why not the sun? I feel like an odd one out on this one though.
        夕方に急なにわか雨は「夕立」と呼ばれるなら、なぜ朝ににわか雨は「朝立ち」と呼ばれないの? ^^If a sudden rain shower in the evening is referred to as an 'evening stand', then why isn't a shower in the morning called 'morning stand'?

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Winter Solstice

          yay we were up together!!!

          and I have always wanted to visit stonehenge, Ive seen pictures and remember in an art class. Too bad i live in cananda aha. Also I hope you had a fun, nice yule, and I hope your day today at work will be a great time

          ps. The only thing I dont like about today was somone asked me "hey since your pagan are you celebrating the winter solstice" and I said "yes" and they said "oh okay" then I heard somone asked what is Paganism and I heard him whisper "its stupid" and it kind of like ruined my self esteem. Its weird when somone puts me down, I kind of self doubt. Then again as my tarot reading always says "take harsh words lightly , and dont take them as fact, follow your heart you know whats best." k anywho now I am rambling on, Ill say this once more , hope your yule is a great one, all the best wishes and blessings to you, and everyone who is reading this, blessed be !!!

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Winter Solstice

            There are always going to be people like that. I've been quite lucky. Only my German ex boyfriend really put me down for my beliefs and destroyed my self confidence and my faith. It's weird because my current boyfriend doesn't believe in Deity and particularly hates 'all these New Age bullcrap religions', and yet had GIVEN ME BACK my faith by supporting me in rediscovering my beliefs and respecting me for being true to myself. For the most part though, no one cares one way or another what you believe here. Or in my experience anyway.

            I work nights actually, from 10pm at night until 8am, so I was working through the longest night! I was listening to my Yule playlist and checking out Pagan Forum while I was there though. Now I must sleep. Work again tonight, but I'll visit my mum for food and presents beforehand. I was sneaky and had a sly beer just now. I wouldn't normally drink at 9am, even though I am 100% nocturnal these days. I still feel weird drinking in the morning, even if it is my evening!
            夕方に急なにわか雨は「夕立」と呼ばれるなら、なぜ朝ににわか雨は「朝立ち」と呼ばれないの? ^^If a sudden rain shower in the evening is referred to as an 'evening stand', then why isn't a shower in the morning called 'morning stand'?

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Winter Solstice

              aweeee well I hope all goes well (its 5:16 am here),

              blessed be

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Winter Solstice

                All I'm doing tonight is lighting a special candle on my altar. Other than that, nothing really.
                Army of Darkness: Guardians of the Chat

                Honorary Nord.

                Habbalah Vlogs

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Winter Solstice

                  I'm just curious but, what are people's reason's for celebrating on the dates they do? I celebrate today, and had I not been sleeping, it would have been all through the day. Things have just had to change with me working nights. Yet a large number of my friends, especially the Wiccans, prefer to celebrate on the eve, so LAST night. Their reason being that it is the longest night so they look forward to the sun returning. My head can't get around the night on 21st and 22nd being different in length if today is the shortest day. To me it seems logical that they are both more or less of equil length.

                  Surely the Sun is born TONIGHT if tomorrow will be longer? So we should be celebrating it's arrival. I thought this was logical and fine until that huge ritual was organised at Stone Henge with THOUSTANDS of Pagans from not only all over the UK, but from elsewhere, gathering together. I get why we'd anticipate the LONGEST day at Litha, and celebrate the night before, but why celebrate a day clearly devoid of light, when there's an exciting waxing of light to anticipate tomorrow?

                  Excuse the obvious pun but, I'd be grateful if you could shine some light on this one.
                  夕方に急なにわか雨は「夕立」と呼ばれるなら、なぜ朝ににわか雨は「朝立ち」と呼ばれないの? ^^If a sudden rain shower in the evening is referred to as an 'evening stand', then why isn't a shower in the morning called 'morning stand'?

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Winter Solstice / Yule

                    The Winter Solstice escaped my attention up till the last minute, so I had little preparation other than staying up as late as I could (gave in at about 4 am). So even though last night was the Longest Night, I will be cleaning house and lighting a candle tonight to welcome the new Sun.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Winter Solstice

                      I celebrated Wednesday evening, did my ritual calling the quarters etc., privately as always, then my bf came over, we had a nice dinner and exchanged small gifts. Talked a little about wishes for the upcoming year, and just relaxed. He had no clue what to expect, poor guy, he really tries to get his head around me!
                      sigpic
                      Can you hear me, Major Tom? I think I love you.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Winter Solstice

                        What a lovely tradition! Frankly, I could get behind any tradition involving delicious, chocolatey cake, but this one is delicious AND replete with lovely symbolism. :-)

                        >>Rather than use a real log and burn it, I use a decorated chocolate log with a candle in. The candle burning represents the returning light. The log is then cut into slices to be shared amongst loved ones. This is a tradition started by my coven that I just like so much that I still like to do it every Yule. There are of course lots of other little traditions I indulge in at this time, but it would take ages to list them all and I imagine it would get quite boring.<<

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Winter Solstice

                          We'll be doing it tomorrow night. Although I did a ritual on the Solstice, we're saving the feast for when I don't have work so we can drink into the early hours! It was a tough call deciding when to do the log, but we decided Saturday night was best and then we can share the slices out on Christmas day in a cute interfaith kind of way. I'll be sure to post a photo. My sister has a little cupcake business and is quite talented at cake decoration. I haven't seen this year's log yet but I have no doubt it will be as beautiful as ever.
                          夕方に急なにわか雨は「夕立」と呼ばれるなら、なぜ朝ににわか雨は「朝立ち」と呼ばれないの? ^^If a sudden rain shower in the evening is referred to as an 'evening stand', then why isn't a shower in the morning called 'morning stand'?

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: Winter Solstice

                            The solstice snuck up on me a bit too. I celebrated on the night of December 22. I think either one is acceptable really- the night before, or the night after. Generally, I try to more or less follow the Badnjak tradition from the South Slavs. Others in Eastern Europe also lit a ceremonial fire around Christmas time. It's basically an eastern variation of the Yule log tradition.

                            However, I often end up keeping old traditions alive in my own way. For instance, many European folk customs insist that friction fire produced from wood has magical properties that is not present in fire started by flint and steel. In Russia, this is called "zhivoy pozhar" or "living fire". The yule tradition calls for it. Rather than starting a friction fire by rubbing sticks together, as is traditional, I just lit a strike-anywhere match by dragging it along a piece of wood. Voila! Friction fire made easy.

                            Instead of lighting a log, I just burned a small bit of wood (a piece of wood I usually use as a drill to try and make friction fire, in fact) , and kept candles and incense burning in the fireplace all night. I also poured libation, and burned papers that signify obstacles in my life. I stayed up, and prayed that the sun would support the Earth for as long as it possibly. could.
                            If you want to be thought intelligent, just agree with everyone.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: Winter Solstice

                              I hope you all had a great yule and if you also share Christmas with loved ones, I hope you enjoyed that too.

                              Well, as promised, here are the photos of the Yule log. Unfortunately, we had already eaten the decorations off it before we lit it. My niece had made a snowman, tree and some presents.







                              Just two slices left. I'm just about to go out for a jog with my boyfriend, then we're going to ruin all that effort by eating those last slices with a cup of coffee. Perfect!
                              夕方に急なにわか雨は「夕立」と呼ばれるなら、なぜ朝ににわか雨は「朝立ち」と呼ばれないの? ^^If a sudden rain shower in the evening is referred to as an 'evening stand', then why isn't a shower in the morning called 'morning stand'?

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X