OK y'all listen up! I know there's a few of us on here dreading the long winter and wishing Christmas was over, and basically stuffing our faces getting ready to not starve during the season of no green. ANYWAY...This is what I decided to do this year...You can take it or leave it, and just so you know I'm an atheist with Taoist tendencies. I decided I was done with Christmas and I was gonna kick it old school, as in Pagan.
THIS SUNDAY DECEMBER 21st is the winter solstice, and the longest night of the year. Historically the winter solstice was celebrated on the 25th of December according to the Julian calendar, hmm... The solstice was celebrated as the returning of the sun and the NEW YEAR! After that day the days start getting longer and the sun starts to return to warm the Earth. That day is considered a day of rebirth. A day of optimism. A day to let it all go and look forward to everything anew. A day when the dark relinquishes itself to the light.
I decided this year my christmas tree, the evergreen a sign of life and renewal, is a solstice tree. I've decorated it with fruit light up with white lights as symbols of the sun, and pine cones to represent the earth. I made an evergreen wreath with colorful ornaments as a symbol of the circle of the year. I will fill my house with herbs and incense to cleanse it for the new year. I intend on the night of the solstice to light candles outside in my driveway, as many as I can find to fend of the darkness. I will burn a yule log outside and write down all the things I want to release from this year, and throw the paper into the fire. I will be free from all the negative things that have happened this year. The new year will be clean to make a fresh start.
Yes, I am that weird neighbor everyone will be talking about, but I don't care! 2014 was a horrible year for me. So many bad things happened. I need to release this year to eternity and move forward to the new year. If celebrating the new year at the winter solstice means I get to do that 10 days before everyone else, then HELL YES! If you want to have your own little new year celebration on Sunday then GO FOR IT! Light a candle. Burn your own little release list. This is a great day to celebrate!
"On the longest night, we look for the light, and we find it deep within"
Lisa Thiel Winter Solstice Song