We have given up the commercial part of Christmas. We all decided that the ghosts of Christmasses past would no longer haunt us and we would take from the holiday only those things we like. We like the tree with lots of lights and ornaments; we like to decorate with lights outside the house; we like the special foods of Christmas.
So, putting that together we decided that the beginning of winter is a great time to do what the Pagans did and celebrate the rebirth of the light which follows the Winter Solstice.
A very long time ago humans recognized the winter solstice and began heralding it as a turning point -- the day that marks the return of the sun and we think that this is a worthy activity and a good reason to make merry, cheer each other up and remind ourselves that it is always darkest before the dawn.
And who knows what it might REALLY mean, to celebrate the standstill of the sun and the slow return to longer days and shorter nights in the Northern hemisphere? For all we know, there IS a cosmic energy that we participate in if we look at it the right way?
Many ancient cultures built their greatest monuments - tombs, temples, cairns and sacred observatories -- so that they aligned with the solstices and equinoxes. Stonehenge is a perfect marker of both solstices. Newgrange, a magical megalithic site in Ireland estimated to be older by centuries than Stonehenge, older than the Egyptian pyramids, was built to receive a shaft of sunlight deep into its central chamber at dawn on winter solstice. The light illuminates a stone basin below intricate carvings -- spirals, eye shapes, solar discs. Although very little is known about how Newgrange was used by its builders, marking the solstice was obviously of tremendous spiritual import to them. See: http://www.knowth.com/newgrange.htm
Solstice 2007 http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/Solstice2007/
Heritage Ireland are proud to present a "live" webcast of the winter solstice at Newgrange.
The live stream will begin at 8.30 am on 21st and 22nd December 2007.
Maeshowe, on the Orkney Islands north of Scotland, also admits the winter solstice setting sun. It is said to be "one of the greatest architectural achievements of the prehistoric peoples of Scotland." See: http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/maeshowe/
Hundreds of other megalithic structures throughout Europe are oriented to the solstices and the equinoxes. Christmas was grafted onto the winter solstice some 1,600 years ago and the observance of Christmas spread across the globe. Along the way, we lost the deep connection of our celebrations to a fundamental seasonal, hemispheric and possibly even cosmic, event.
I think it is time to regain that connection.
In many cultures, customs practiced at Christmas actually go back to pre-Christian times and involve divination: the re-starting of Time and laying the template for the future.
Many Christmas Carols are also re-worked Pagan songs... for example those that refer to holly and ivy. The holly and ivy symbolized male and female, and the songs narrated their often rowdy vying for mastery in the forest or in the house.
So, the next time you find yourself in a store, getting annoyed at incessant repetitions of "the Carol of the Bells," just remember that it is a remnant of the pre-Christian winter solstice celebration in the Ukraine. The Ukrainian carol called "Shchedryk" has the same melody as the Carol of the Bells, but different words. The word "Shchedryk" means the "Generous One". It refers to the god of generosity, the Dazh Boh - the Giver God, which is the sun. And from there, it isn't hard to think of the Mother Goddess of the cosmic energy, the giver of all good things...
Winter Solstice 2007: Dec 22, 6:08 am Universal Time
Be sure to adjust for your time zone:
EST: Dec 22, 1:08 am
CST: Dec 22, 12:08 am
MST: Dec 21, 11:08 pm
PST: Dec 21, 10:08 pm
Some articles about Winter Solstice celebrations... http://www.shambhala.org/arts/fest/unconquered.html
and http://www.cassiopedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=Winter_solstice - find out what you like, and do it! Tell people that you no longer celebrate Christmas in the "new" way, you are returning to the "old way"!
But most of all, remember that the character of the season is to return everything to formless chaos so that the universe itself can work with the energies and re-create itself anew... so a bit of egg-nog or a hot toddy and some good fun with people you care about is the way to go! Create a feast, hang some lights up, put up a tree just for the sheer enjoyment of it, and relax!!!
