Winter Solstice

December 22, 2003

Today is the Winter Solstice, known by many neopagans as “Yule.” As I’ve grown older and grown away from my Christian background, Yule has gradually come to mean more and more to me than Christmas. Interestingly enough, however, I think as I’ve come to understand the importance of Yule I’ve come to understand that “true meaning of Christmas” that seems so elusive — to heretic, pagan, and Christian alike — this time of year.

I do not like winter. Not because it’s cold so much, or because I hate snow, but because I crave light. The descent into winter feels like a slow death. For many years — long before I became aware of neopagans — the Winter Solstice was important to me because it meant that *light* was on its way back.

It began to have more spiritual meaning for me after I graduated from college. The end of schooling is a strange time; for years you have had your activities planned for you. First grade, second grade, third grade. You always knew you were moving on.

But after college, I found each successive year found me in an entirely different place than I anticipated. The Solstice, more than the new year or Christmas, became a time of looking backwards, then looking forwards. And as jobs changed, homes changed, and people went out of and came into my life I started to understand in a very personal way that Solstice was about rebirth.

It is at this time, more than any other I think, that we are reminded that we have the power to remake ourselves when we feel diminished.

Which is why, questions of historical accuarcy aside, this is a great time for Christmas. Whether you’re a philosophical ‘little-c’ christian or an evangelical Christian, Christmas, like Yule, is about rebirth and having faith that soon things will be better than they are.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and have a good Yule. May we all be reborn in the new year.

Posted in Archived Unsorted