Monday, December 05, 2005

Yule Tide Greetings!


The darkest day of the year is fast approaching. It comes in the third week of December, usually around the 21st to the 24th. The shortest day of the wheel of seasons, when the sun rises and sets in a mere ten hours.

The trees are bare and offer no fruit, and the cold winds lash at burning cheeks. It is easy to see that many early peoples in the northern hemisphere could have felt hopeless during this time of year.

Thus the celebration of Yule.

Yule is the day on the agricultural calendar of the ancients, that marks the birth of the Sun, The Light of the World: The time when the days quit getting shorter, and begin to grow again.

The lore is the old sun dies, and the new Sun God is reborn of the Goddess as the Divine King. It is a symbol of hope during the lean cold of winters rule.

The celebrations would include a festival of lights, to symbolize the growing light of the sun. Fur trees, Holy, misletoe and anything evergreen were brought to the celebration and decorated with dried fruits, as a symbol of the coming spring.

Food and Drink were offered in a lavish display of feasting. This was a sure sign of confidence that warm weather and lush crops were on the way, for to do so otherwise, during a time of rationing, would be suicide.

So light your lights, decorate your tree, put on a grand fattening up feast, and celebrate The Light of The World!

(Or you could just hop a plane to Florida.) LOL

No comments: