Today, December 21st 2009, is the Winter Solstice / Yule. This is the longest night and shortest day of the year; however, we celebrate that, from now on, the days will (very) slowly begin to last longer.
I want you to imagine for a moment how observant our ancient ancestors were. The time difference between last week, today, and next week is extremely slight; yet, they knew that there was a difference and they calculated the exact date where the change officially occured. That alone is cause for celebration of the human mind (yes, sometimes it can be a good thing!)
Some Yuletide traditions you can partake in: burning a yule log; spiking apples and oranges with cloves (pommander - this is fun and easy and I still have mine from last year!); hanging holly, ivy, and mistletoe around your house and yard; meditating and/or praying thanks to your ancestors, the sun, life, Christmas (if you celebrate Christmas), harmony, humanity, etc.; do spells for peace and love; and work all of the spices, herbs, and colors into your evening.
This very beautiful and detailed article http://www.wicca.com/celtic/akasha/yule.htm explains Yule in depth, and I encourage you to take a look. It will further instruct you as to the history and traditions of this lovely holiday.
Happy Yule!
Out of curiosity, what ever happened with your Whitman blog? Any plans on launching that this year?
ReplyDeleteI've been missing you lately. What have you been up to? You should email me :D.
My Whitman blog will begin soon - I want to use it record nature so I have to wait for the weather to lighten up a bit - although, I suppose I could stop being lazy and start writing about Whitman and posting his poetry.
ReplyDeleteI miss you toooo!!!!!!!! We have to continue the magical e-mails of last year, which kept me inspired from week to week. :)