Today is the first full day of winter. As the earth turns on its axis and brings us into winter, pagans recall the celebrations of our ancestors. The bonfires and the Yule log, said to foretell good luck if it burned for twelve hours. Our ancestors also bring us the tradition of decorating our homes with evergreens as a way of reminding us about the life in nature when much of nature around us seems to die away. Even mistletoe, thought to provide healing and protection, was used in decorations.
We embrace the dark and cold of winter. We gather together with our families and friends around the hearth. It is a time of rekindling relationships and connections with each other.
But we also we lean toward tomorrow, and the day after. Always leaning toward the light of the longer days.
Blessed Yule.
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9 comments:
Amen for the longer days!
I always celebrate when I make it past the longest night, and have hope and expectation that each day will be a bit longer, and I will ride higher as the sun climbs back into the sky.
...and the days will begin to get longer, so the night blind have soemthing to celebrate ;)
My Page-A-Day Word Calendar this morning had the word Brumalia, which is a "pagan festival held at the winter solstice from which some features of the celebration of Christmas seem to have originated." I never knew that, but now you touch on it also. Ergo, it must be true.
Happiest of Holidays to you and yours, Em. Enjoy the school break, for it too shall pass.
Michele sent me, Em.
These shorter days of Winter can certainly cause one to reflect. I can see why traditions like these arose. People thinking about mortality through the long Winter months would have plenty of time to come up with traditions. Now we have tv so we don't need to go through the bother. ;-)
I like this, Em. Very nice......
And, of course, the days start lengthening now - for us depressives!! :-)
cq
Michele sent me to see you today.
well put. you know what else is burning for twelve hours? tempers at the denver airport.
have a nice holiday.
p
Here, on the first day of winter, it is 60 degrees (in New York). While I appreciate the warmth, I know that the reason for it is not good...
But your comment about welcoming longer days makes me smile, and I think I'll focus on that. ;)
Here via michele today!
Very well written, Em.
Michele sent me here
Very nice post and thanks for visiting my site! I promise I will define the "partial ex husband" matters in a post asap =)
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