Today is Yule.
(my winter tree)The Yule log (not the chocolate one, although this is where it originates from) represents heat and light for the winter months - basic human needs that are all but forgotten in our modern, overindulgent society.
So if you don't do anything else to mark this day then light a candle for someone who is still living in darkness.
Happy, happy Yule to you!
... if light turned to darkness,
stars faded one by one,
and if all was dark and quiet,
you would be my private sun.
*
and if all was dark and quiet,
you would be my private sun.
*
12 comments:
Don't know what astronomy your coven follows but here at the Dawg Rangh the Yule soltice indicates that rather than "Night and day are in equal measure" the night is the longest of the year and must await the spring equinox three months later to equal the day. That's my candle for you, and I your private sun. ;•p
I'll be lighting lots of candles this evening and yelling to the sun to get his bloody act together and start warming us up again.
I just lit a candle – I like the sentiments in your post... I didn't know what Yule was before I read it.
Best of Yule tidings to you.
Mell D
Gladje Jul, Minx.
Happy festival of Lights!
Tonight is the night to post about candles, obviously!
love and light to you,
Leslie
You are right, Yodood, but Yule is the great leveller, the mid-winter battle has been fought and won and from now on we can look to the light.
Don't you love those snuggly afternoons in front of the fire, Sharon?
Yule blessings back, FB.
The sentiments of the Pagan calender are simplistic, Melif, they follow the natural seasonal wheel of the year.The church just wrapped it up in hocus pocus in order to strengthen their own numbers. Paganism has moved with the times and we no longer make a sacrifice on Yule, or kill in the name of our belief system!
You have just hit the nail on the festive head, Leslie. Love and light got mislaid somewhere in favour of the latest X box game!
So much love and light to you, my sweet friend.
The shortest day, ie, the 21st is a myth, as it can occur 9 days either side of that date. It's all down to the Earth's elliptical rotation around the sun!
It is now the month of December, when the greatest part of the city is in a bustle. Loose reins are given to public dissipation; everywhere you may hear the sound of great preparations, as if there were some real difference between the days devoted to Saturn and those for transacting business....Were you here, I would willingly confer with you as to the plan of our conduct; whether we should eve in our usual way, or, to avoid singularity, both take a better supper and throw off the toga"
Seneca, on Saturnalia, the Romann Solstice celebration
Now, Minxy, lets get you out of that Toga...
Glad Yule, Minx. Love and light indeed.
And this year solstice coincided with the first night of Chanukah.
As the solstice is solar and the Hebrew calendar is lunar, there must be some particular balance happening this year.
Love and light to all.
I suppose all old festivals have liquid dates, John G. In my own calender the four equinox and solstice are celebrated on the 21st.
It's a bit chilly, Bullets!
May your log burn brightly, Roberta!
Happy Chanukah, Debi. The Pagan and Hebrew calender are often very close and like Divali they celebrate light in the darker months. I guess we were all just trying to survive.
Charming.
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