Winter Solstice
Civilisations throughout the millennia have celebrated the return of the sun at winter solstice, in both the northern and southern hemispheres. Though the ‘famine season’ - the darkest, coldest months - would follow these celebrations, our ancient ancestors knew that the longest night of darkness signalled the return of the sun.
In Scotland, where I live, the winter solstice occurred at 9:20 a.m. on this past Saturday, meaning our days will be ten-minutes longer by the turn of the year that arrives next week.
At Stonehenge, in the south of England, the setting sun on the winter solstice illuminates the alter stone. This setting sun also illuminates the main stones in the circle at Callanish, on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland, believed to be built at a similar time to Stonehenge, between 2900-2600 BC.
Maeshowe, a Neolithic chambered burial cairn built at a similar time on Orkney, is designed so that the sun shines down an 11- meter passageway into its chamber, lighting up the back wall and then crawling back each day between late November and mid-January. At the winter solstice, the setting sun aligns perfectly with the entranceway.
The world has many such monuments to the winter solstice, being a key sign of renewal and the sun’s impending return .
Chichen Itza and Tulum in Mexico.
Macchu Pichu in Peru.
Chaco Canyon in the USA.
Karnak Temple in Egypt.
New Grange in Ireland.
Goseck Circle in Germany.
Celebrations at this time of year are found in many cultures, with fires, lights, and candles playing central roles in the rituals and stories. Like the candle-wreathes worn on the heads of young girls on St Lucia day on 13th December, reminding people in Nordic countries that the light will soon return.
Yule, the Norse/Scandinavian festival of the winter solstice is thought to have origins around the year 1000. This twelve-day festival is the origin of the Yule Log, which many of us now think of as type of Christmas cake - the French ‘Bouche de Noel’, or simple ‘chocolate log’ found in many UK supermarkets at this time of year.
The Yule log was, in fact, a tree trunk that was to supply fire throughout the twelve days of celebrations, the final piece of which would be used as kindling to light the Yule log in the following year. Honouring the cycle of light and dark, of endings and beginnings.
Dongzhi, the ‘arrival of winter’, when families in China gather to celebrate the solstice and the waning year, six weeks before Chinese New Year.
The ancient Persian winter solstice celebration of Shab-e Yalda, Yalda meaning birth, has been included in the official calendar of Iran since 502 BCE, with many of the modern festivities and customs remaining unchanged from this period. Families and friends gather to feast, reflect on the passing year and look forward to the new one. Fruits and nuts are eaten – specifically pomegranates and watermelon, their red colour intended to symbolise the dawn. It is common to read the poetry of the 14th century mystic poet Hafez.
‘O cupbearer, may the coming of the new dawn bring blessings
Bring the wine, for the darkness has been defeated….
Every treasure of joy that God granted Hafez
Comes from the radiance of patience during dark times.’
Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Light, celebrating the miracle of the oil supply for a single night in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem burning for eight days; and of course, the Twelve Days of Christmas, beginning with the story of three wise men following the shining Star of Bethlehem to meet the newborn king.
In January, we follow these festivals of light with the Gregorian Calander’s New Year on 1st of January – while Scotland enjoys our only two-day public holiday through 2nd January. In Russia, the public holiday runs from 1-7 January, with gifts from ‘Grandfather Frost’ being given on New Year’s Eve.
All these ways for humans to gather and celebrate the light’s return, its ‘defeat’ of the darkness, the gift of continued survival and an early spark of hope for the year ahead.
Honouring nature’s rhythms, reminding us of the value of resting into this period of dormancy and renewal ahead of spring’s growing season and the long days of summer that will follow.
Celebrations to signal our final weeks of hibernation, of germination, as the earth’s northern pole begins its tilt toward the sun and the arrival of spring.
On Sunday, 22 December, I held a Winter Solstice Workshop online, for which 83 women signed up, which was so incredible to me. On the day, 31 women attended – which I consider to be a resounding success on the Sunday before Christmas, with the cold and flu season well underway in the global north. Women came from across the UK, the USA, Morocco, South Africa, India and Europe. 31 women of varying ages, together to reflect on the themes of the winter solstice in relation to their own lives, at this turn of the year.
We began by recalling the year that has passed. The joys, wonder and moments of deep gratitude that it brought, as well as its disappointments, griefs and things that we are glad to leave in the year that is behind us.
I invited us to recall who and what accompanied and supported us through the year - the people, pets, routines, music, writing, places, etc. The lights that continued to shine in our darkest hours.
Reflecting on 2024- key events, people, experiences, hopes, lessons, etc.
· January – March: stirrings, slow, early beginnings, light returning
· April-June: budding, fresh energy, promise of the new
· July-September: ripe, full, expansive and energised
· October-December: harvesting, letting go, drawing in…
I then shared something I learned from a podcast earlier in the year, that I find to be such a potent sign of the power of the deepest winter. Female bears of breeding age are pregnant when they enter hibernation, usually giving birth late January and remaining in their dens, slumbering and nursing their babies, until they emerge together in the spring.
This symbol of the active yet subtle life-giving potential of the waning darkness really struck me. That this dark, ‘barren’ winter season is also a time of birthing, slowing down as far as possible, and sustaining new life until it is safe to be above ground.
Our final refection was in relation to the ‘seeds’ that we wish to take into the waning darkness, with the hope that they will be ready to break ground in the spring. Some may be seeds from the best of 2024’s harvest, and others fresh intentions for 2025.
Any gardeners reading this will know that the new seed catalogues are published in January, another reminder that humans have long known and abided by nature’s cycles.
• What are the seeds that you want to bring with you, in your ‘seed box’, to protect and prepare for planting in the spring?
• What will you hibernate with, to nurture, prepare or refresh for 2025?
• What is it time to release, to let go of, be freed from…so that you are more able to draw on, and preserve, your own resources, to grow and flourish in 2025?
May the darkness of winter kindle your light, and 2025 be a year of greater ease for humankind, and more peace on earth.
27 December 2024
