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n Dec. 22, my calendar tells me that it will be the
first day of winter. This makes me think of the long cold months
ahead. But right on that very same day, in the middle of the coldest
and darkest part of the year, there is something happening which
always inspires me and gives me hope. Some calendars differ, but
on approximately Dec. 21st or 22nd we will experience the shortest
day and the longest night of the year. Conversely, we will also
experience what I call the returning of the light. To the calendar
it looks as though winter is just beginning. But the movement of
the sun assures us that spring is coming because from now until
around the third week in June, the days will be getting longer and
the amount of sunlight will be increasing.
The winter solstice is the name we give to this special time of
year where the darkness is defeated by the returning of the light;
even though we won't see the results of that change for many months
yet. This cold and dark season is a time where people have to work
a little bit harder to build our own hopes and happiness where we
can. It helps me when I remember the promise of spring right here
in the middle of winter that the solstice represents.
In traditional societies this event might be celebrated by ceremonies
and rituals such as those done at the Detroit Waldorf School where
my daughter is a 5th grader this year. There, the youngest children
will celebrate the return of the light by making beautiful lanterns
that swing on long sticks and can be carried merrily through the
darkness. When my daughter was younger we would celebrate the winter
solstice by making similar lanterns in the company of many of our
friends and their children. While the children worked to make their
lanterns, we would speak of the winter solstice, about the longest
and darkest night and the return of the light. We would encourage
the children to recognize that even in the darkest places, there
is a light that we carry within, which can guide and help us to
endure and to thrive in the dark places. We would also spread pine
cones with peanut butter and roll them in seeds. Then singing songs
we would walk outside through the dark and cold to our favorite
evergreen tree where the children would discover home made sweets
hanging on the branches for them. After taking down their gifts,
the children would leave the peanut butter pine cones hanging from
the tree for the squirrels and birds. Children and adults would
sing songs and offer blessings to the natural world asking that
the animals and trees might have plenty of nourishment and survive
the winter safely. There was always a special song for the evergreen
tree to celebrate the gift of its beauty and warmth in the middle
of the cold and barren landscape. Singing and swinging our lanterns,
their many cheery points of light shining in the dark night, children
and adults would walk back to the house. Once inside we would have
hot cider and eat sweets while everyone glowed with rosy cheeks
and happy hearts.
These special ceremonies are sweet memories we share
with each other and we continue to celebrate this special time of
year, only changing the content of what we do to suit our older
children.
Adults love ceremony too, and if there are no children
to inspire a lantern walk, you can create a bonfire and invite friends
and family to spend some time offering blessings, music and song
into the darkness of the world and welcome the almost imperceptible,
but nevertheless irrefutable return of the light. The type of ceremony
you choose is very personal and this is part of what makes it powerful
for you. When you address the needs of your own heart and mind through
a ritual that nurtures you, it cures you of the darkness of heart
which can disguise the light of your inner being. You become a bearer
of light into the world.
Eve Wilson directs the internationally accredited Healer Development
Program. She is a UCM Healer Practitioner and Reiki Master who has
been teaching deep transformational healing since 1986. Her work
springs from an awareness of unconditional love and wisdom existing
within all people and all things.
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