Why we celebrate the Winter Solstice❄️

This year I'm declaring my favorite holiday as the winter solstice.

For me, the Solstice marks of the end of one year, the beginning of another.

The shortest day. The longest night. 

Sure the equinox is great if you like things to be even, fair, balanced… 

But the solstice means more to me because it reflects the extremes. 

What goes up must come down. What grows dark will grow light again. 

Growing up, no one I knew celebrated the winter solstice. It was barely a footnote at the beginning of Winter, and as a skier, Winter was my favorite season. Winter was for flying over a clean, white landscape of solid water.

But to everyone else it seemed, Winter was for enduring. 

And it couldn't be over soon enough, so…

Move over Solstice, Christmas is coming!

Yet even Anglo-based Christmas couldn't deny that adding light to darkness was the central component of the holiday. Gifts and Jesus. Open fires with roasting chestnuts. Wise men road-tripping by the light of the North Star. Rudolph's bright nose guiding the way. And of course Christmas eve candlelight services with all the singing. 

These were the traditions handed down to me. 

As I I delve into what is meaningful, it's clear that current traditions happen over time. 

They are bequeathed. They are borrowed. They are stolen.

They are integrated into our daily lives by wrapping them in the house coats of conquerors and dominant culture. 

Any self-respecting historian and/or witch will tell you, Christmas is a Pagan holiday wrapped in Papal garb. 

And what was the pagan tradition from whence Christmas came? 

Yep. You guessed it. Winter Solstice!

While them's is fightin' words for some, give me a second and I'll prove it.

Here's just a few of the customs associated with Christmas that have origins in pre-Christian pagan practices:

➡ Evergreen Trees: Pagans often decorated their homes with evergreen boughs during the winter solstice as a symbol of life amid the barren winter. This practice was adopted, transformed and voila, the modern Christmas tree was born.

➡ Mistletoe: Druids considered mistletoe to have mystical properties and used it in their winter solstice celebrations. The tradition of hanging mistletoe and kissing underneath it during Christmas? Definitely pagan origins.

➡ Giving Gifts: The custom of exchanging gifts during the winter season has roots in various ancient solstice celebrations; it symbolized goodwill, generosity, and the sharing of wealth and prosperity.

➡ Feasts: Winter solstice celebrations often involved feasting to celebrate the return of longer days and the hope of spring's arrival.

➡ December 25 The celebration of Christmas on December 25th coincides with the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, a time when many ancient cultures marked the rebirth of the sun and the lengthening of days.

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And though Christmas is Christian-centric and celebrated throughout the Western world, it is not alone in its origins of celebrating the Solstice.

There are so many other cultures - living and past -  that celebrate the return of longer days. These celebrations representing the return of light and the triumph of life over darkness, enumerate the diverse ways cultures honor and welcome the changing seasons during Winter Solstice.

Here are just a few:

 ✔️Yule: Originating from Norse and Germanic cultures, Yule celebrates the rebirth of the sun. Traditions include lighting Yule logs, feasting, and decorating with evergreens.

 ✔️Dongzhi Festival: Celebrated in East Asia, particularly in China, Taiwan, and other East Asian countries, Dongzhi marks the arrival of winter and the year's shortest day. Families gather to eat tangyuan (sweet dumplings).

 ✔️Inti Raymi: In Peru, the Inca festival of Inti Raymi celebrates the sun god Inti. The festival involves processions, music, and dancing to honor the sun's return.

✔️Soyal: Celebrated by the Hopi and Zuni tribes of Native Americans, Soyal marks the beginning of the new year. Rituals involve purification, prayer, and the lighting of fires.

✔️Saturnalia: Ancient Rome celebrated Saturnalia to honor the god, Saturn. During this time, social norms were reversed, gifts were exchanged, and homes were decorated with candles and greenery.

✔️Yalda Night: Yalda Night, also known as Shab-e Yalda, is an Iranian festival celebrated on the longest night of the year. It's a celebration of joy, warmth, and the triumph of light over dark, and emphasizes the rich heritage and traditions of Persian culture.

The commonality of Solstice traditions is striking.

The common human experience of the overlap between light and time is deeply ingrained in all of us.

Another way to say it is…so many cultures see the solstice as a demarcation of time.

While I was taught that time is linear, I've come to view linear time mostly as a useful construct for organizing, communicating and understanding how time passes. Linear time is logical. 

But I also recognize that different perspectives on time exist across various cultures and belief systems.

That there are other ways to view time.

As someone who spends a lot of time outdoors, I am well-tuned to both Cosmic time - relating to celestial events, moon phases, and the changing of seasons - as well as Biological time, which includes things affected by Cosmic time, such as the tides, the seasons, and the cycles of death and rebirth inherent throughout our natural world. If I were to sum up the difference in perception, these ways of telling time are the ways that I feel  and experience time.

These other ideas of time that align with the natural world and the wonder of the cosmos are clearly apparent in the solstice traditions.

And this, for me, is so much more meaningful than any moment in time. Even my own birthday. 

On a personal note, I acknowledge I am affected greatly by the shortening of days. 

There's a western medical term for this called S.A.D., aka Seasonal Affective Disorder. SAD is believed to be related to the body's internal clock and the production of certain hormones, particularly melatonin (which regulates sleep patterns) and serotonin (affects mood). If you are a human who is prone to this, like me, you might feel melancholy, lethargic, lackluster…as the days grow shorter, there is a feeling of darkness creeping in. 

This year, as I use the solstice as my own personal, yearly calendar, I look back at this time last year. And I was in a dark place that I did not fully understand. I had spent the year uncovering emotions long buried, talents long forgotten, and the truth of who I knew myself to be. It was not easy and I could not see where the light would come in. But I knew if I could just get through the dark days, I would experience light and growth. 

Now in this solstice, looking back at the year I've had, I am a different person. I have had a year of explosive growth. I did more than I thought possible when in the season of waning light. But as the light came back, I recovered dreams I dreamed a long time ago that were buried deep… and which I found in the darkness. 

This year I celebrate the solstice and see things are lighter than they were last year. 

I just had to rest and let time pass.

As I've come to know myself better, as I'm more forgiving of myself, of my sensitivity to the natural cycle of things, I take issue with calling it a “disorder”. 

This year, I see it as a strength.

I've come to believe that rest is essential to integrate the growth of the year, and the death of past-season things is necessary for new growth to happen. 

From this space, new life gathers . 

Now I welcome hibernation and rest, knowing that as the days grow longer again, energy flows back in and everything becomes sunnier. 

Henceforth, I'm celebrating Solstice. 

I'm celebrating the longest night and seeing what's there in the dark.

I'm celebrating bringing light into the darkness. 

And I'm celebrating that there's evidence that a diverse swath of humans understand this concept.

I'm celebrating that the profoundness and metaphorical allegory of the solstice transcends any differences we have created and assigned as important. 

Do I like Christmas? Yeah sure. The songs are nice.

But I'm celebrating the Solstice.

Where I used to dread the long night, I find myself now dreaming of all the miraculous things to come.

I wish you the same. 

May you have a wonderful Solstice and a stellar new year full of gifts, light and celebration.💚