ANDREA THIEL CONNELL: Every year I hear people complain about the coming of Christmas; the hectic schedules, the cost, the commercialism, the stress, the loneliness and the gaudiness of it all. Bah Humbug I say! Lighten up...It's Winter Solstice!

I love this time of year. I have a Christmas tree (a tragic misnomer) with hundreds of lights and thousands of tiny treasures that I have collected all my life. I have more candles than any house should safely have within a confined space and I have everything shiny, gold, red and sparkly you could think of. For the next month my house will virtually overflow with evergreen, mistletoe, pinecones, oranges, apples, pomegranates, nuts, evergreen and home baking. Hymns and carols from all genres in all different languages of music play from early December until early January. And before you think that I am just mindlessly swept up in the festive commercial 'kitch' of the season I assure you this is all by great design. I am deliberately and happily working in harmony with the energetic opportunity of the season. My inner pagan is celebrating!

Ancient Traditions; Modern Celebrations
Winter Solstice celebrations far pre-date our modern Christian Christmas traditions. The pagan influence has unquestioningly been adopted by most Christians the world over without even a sideways glance. At the risk of causing slight discomfort I will try to shed some light on this.

To start with the basics, the word pagan was used to describe the country folk that had not yet been introduced to the religious concepts of the Roman Catholic Church. 'Pagans' lived by the laws of land, nature, and astronomy. Pagan does not mean witch as is commonly thought. These folks grasped their inherent reliance on the cycles of nature, and the yearly journey around the sun that ultimately determined the success and failure of their crops and henceforth their own survival. Their 'religion' was simply based around working harmoniously with those cycles, intentionally and carefully stimulating strong relationships with the others of their communities and natural forces. In today's lingo we call this working with the Law of Attraction.

This very important holiday is all about celebrating the growth of light, community, gift giving, loving & sharing from an intensely spiritual and metaphoric point of view. At Winter Solstice our primary intention is to summon the light to shine brightly into our future. It is not about cutting back, cutting corners and saving; it's about generosity and exhibiting faith in an abundant future. Metaphysically speaking this is the time when we can turn dark into light, and spin straw into gold! It's a time for expressing intense gratitude and affirmations in the power of love, light, peace and prosperity.

Bring on the Mistletoe!
As we head toward the Winter Solstice we become aware on a daily basis of the darkening of days. The 21st of December marks the longest night of the year and magically by the 24th of December the days already seem longer as the light slowly begins to grow again.

Solstice celebrations focused on stimulating the light to grow. The winter months were long, cold and hard on the people. The sun's light offered warmth and promise of health and the abundant growth of crops. In the minds of our ancestors fire and light were powers that belonged to the heavens and the deities that dwelled there. With the knowledge of creating fire people were able to demonstrate to the Gods their ability to manage this great gift and so evergreen trees, pinecones and boughs, as symbols of everlasting growth, fertility and life were cut, adorned with candles and burned to ashes as an offering to the heavens, symbolizing that the light was established on earth. Yule logs were cut from a tree on the home property or came as a gift. Each year charred pieces saved from the previous year's Yule log were used to ignite the new one and left to smoulder for 12 days. In turn part of the new log would be saved for the following year and part would be buried as a blessing to the earth. This ritual was thought to ensure the continuation of light and fertility for another year.

Fertility was a critically important theme of the solstice celebrations. Without fertile crops, animals and people the communities would fail so many of the rituals incorporated the sharing of fruits, nuts and seeds such as apples, figs, pomegranates, wheat, poppies and sunflowers. All seeds represented the new growth potential and were considered sacred symbols of abundance, prosperity and good fortune. Although today we hang mistletoe in our foyers and public rooms for light-hearted kissing games, originally mistletoe was considered to be a powerful herb for attracting fertility. Bunches of mistletoe were hung on the bedposts to ensure the manifestation of very strong fertile intentions.

Red and gold are the traditional colours of Solstice, symbolizing the blood life force of the earth and her people and the glorious reflection of light. Anything that could be brought in that was red, gold, yellow, or orange, was orb shaped, held seeds or reflected light was considered an embodiment of light filled prosperity. Rare oranges, apples, berries, figs and baked goods loaded with seeds where exchanged as treasured gifts of blessings and hope. Sharing abundantly exhibited strong faith in continued good fortune.

The dark in ancient times just as in modern times has always been feared. It was important for the people to feel safe and protected during the darkest months of the year thus many of the traditions were created to protect against unseen forces. Thorny holly and bittersweet shrubs were planted at doors and windows to keep danger at bay. Strong pungent anti-bacterial herbs and resins like frankincense, myrrh and cedar were burned to purify the environment of disease, negative energy and dark forces.

Into the Light of a New Year
Many of our modern Christmas traditions were adopted by the church out of necessity simply because the people refused to leave them behind. By the simple fact that these traditions have survived thousands of years, from one generation to the next, prove the inherent spiritual connection we have to these simple practices. The traditions and rituals of Christmas speak to your heart, and it is through these time-honoured rituals that we continue to connect to our earth, our communities and our families and create balance in our lives.

If you are tired of the hollow commercial aspect to the holidays, try rekindling the light of the holidays by embracing the simple concepts of solstice. Try not to buy your Christmas on credit. Part of the blessing of Solstice is in the sharing of what you already have and who you are. During this years' Solstice celebrations come to know what you would like to see grow and prosper in your life. Is your inner light on or off? Learn to intimately, symbolically connect to your rituals as extensions of yourself as a light filled being.

This year when you see that fruitcake no one wants to eat, be reminded of the outstanding miracle of abundance and fertility that brought it to your table. Be blessed in prosperity, peace, health, love and light for the remainder of this month and into the New Year!

Dec 23, 2011 - 10:38 AM

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Thank you for this reminder for Christmas.
I am buying my gifts during the whole year, when I see things I know my friends and family like.
And I will start this wonderful thought of the YULE Log and I am going right now to my healing oils and insence to burn them and spred them troughout my house.Sharing seeds of my garden flowers and veggies with friends is a tradition already for me.
I love to decorate and give presents. The "dark" days is my time of reading and doing all the things I had no time to do during the busy other seasons.
Have a blessed Christmas and a fruitful and happy 2012. Hope we see us again!
Love is my power
Eva (from AVIVA women's fair in Knowlton)