Prepare for the Solstice

My homemade wreath- took 30 minutes and saved me $30.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the December solstice occurs during the coldest season of the year, when the sun is at it’s lowest angle and is seen for it’s shortest period. People all over the world celebrate the solstice. Here are two of my favorite solstice festivals:

Yule (Jul) was a midwinter festival celebrated by the indigenous Norse and Germanic peoples, and is still celebrated by pagans today. The name might mean “Wheel of Fire”. The original date isn't known: It probably started about the time of the winter solstice and very likely at the new moon. It may have lasted three days, or twelve days. The events of Yule included feasting, drinking, and animal sacrifice.

Yule, as it is observed by neo-pagans, is the celebration of the rebirth of the Sun, and the beginning of the cycle of the year.

Dong Zhi means "Arrival Of Winter", and it is the Chinese celebration of the winter solstice. The Chinese have a great feast on Dong Zhi. Everyone wears new clothes, and visits their families with gifts. It is the Thanksgiving of the Chinese calendar, giving thanks for a successful harvest, the fertility of the land, and the reunion of the family. The Dong Zhi Festival is a time for optimism, growing brightness and hope. People pray for safety and prosperity in the coming year.

Dong Zhi is grounded in the Chinese idea of yin and yang- balance and harmony in life. The feminine yin qualities of darkness and cold are most powerful at this time but the solstice is the turning point, giving way gradually to the masculine yang of light and fire.

Many ancient solstice traditions are adopted and absorbed into Christmas festivities. I mark the solstice separately from- but linked to- Christmas, and today I will take some time to prepare.

Agenda today:

1. Make beeswax candles:

Fire is central to the symbolism of this season. Our ancestors lit fires to remind the sun to return, and we light candles to recreate those ancient winter fire ceremonies. I find it satisfying to make a supply of my own candles each year, to use and to give as gifts. I make plenty of both dipped and rolled candles.

2. Paint a plum tree calendar:

Funny looking plum tree!

In China, the number nine is linked with winter because odd numbers are yang, and nine is the largest odd number. Nine represents infinity and extremes. Winter is divided into nine periods, each nine days long, totaling 81 days. The Winter Solstice is the beginning of the first nine-day period. The weather should improve a bit every nine-days, and at the end of the ninth period, spring comes!

Before the Winter Solstice, people in China sometimes paint a plum tree with 81 white flowers. The plum blossom symbolizes longevity, hope, courage, and the promise of spring.

Materials: 

• soft absorbent paper (rice paper or newsprint)
• bottle of black sumi ink
• a Chinese brush

• or use a black marker!

1. Experiment with the brush. Dip your brush into the ink. Hold the brush vertically, very gently.

2. Practice painting a tree and plum blossoms. To get fine lines, touch only the tip of the brush to the paper. Move your whole arm. Just paint the outline of the blossoms, and five dots in the center.

3. When you feel confident, paint a tree with 81 plum blossoms.

4. Hang the tree on the wall, and starting tomorrow, on the winter solstice, color one flower red each day. At the end of nine-times-nine days, 81 red blossoms will welcome the spring!

3. Make a wreath:

"Now, why is this tree in the kitchen?"

Evergreens are a symbol for eternal life, because they stay green when everything else dies. And a wreath (being a circle) is a symbol of the circle of life.

I have been collecting greens all week- some pruned from the base of our Christmas tree, some collected from a large Douglas fir branch that blew down in the park, some from our over-grown Mugo pine.

Materials:

• fresh evergreens
• clippers
• spindle of thin floral wire
• double-ring wreath base

1. Clip the evergreens into approximately 8-inch pieces, and gather a little group of three pieces together. I like to layer three different kinds of greens.

2. Wrap the end of the wire onto the wreath base, and then tightly around the first bundle of greens and all the way around the wreath base a couple times.

3. Gather a second bundle and cover the stems of the first bundle with it. Wrap wire around these stems, and then keep moving backwards, adding bundles until you've gone full-circle.

4. Tuck the last bundle under the first bundle. Adjust as necessary. (I've found a red bow will cover any lopsided area nicely.)