Winter Solstice / Yule

 The winter solstice occurred this morning at 2:02 a.m. Pacific Standard Time.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the December solstice happens during the coldest season of the year, when the sun is at it’s lowest angle and is seen for it’s shortest period. This is the turning point, the moment of new beginnings - the darkest time, with the brightest hope.

In the Pagan tradition, the Winter Solstice is often called Yule; it's the Sabbat that begins the Pagan year. Yule (Jul) was a midwinter festival celebrated by the indigenous Norse and Germanic peoples. The name might mean “Wheel of Fire”. The original date of Yule isn't known but it probably started about the time of the winter solstice and very likely at the new moon. 

Yule is a fire festival, a time of celebrating the return of the light.

Many ancient solstice traditions are adopted and absorbed into Christmas festivities. I mark the solstice separately from- but linked to- Christmas. This is when I honor the sun, and remember that in spite of our technology, we are still dependent on the sun for life. Our world does revolve around the sun!

Agenda today:

1. Prayer journal queries

2. Christmas Novena, day 6
3. Paint a plum tree calendar
4. Make Norwegian donuts
5. Mother's Night offering

6. Solstice fire!
1. Prayer journal queries:

This week of advent my focus is the Guiding Light of God. My image of God is a Spirit of Love and Light that lives in all people.

I started a new prayer journal, which for me is a way to speak to my Inner Guide. This week I will spend a little longer each morning in quiet prayer. Today I will ask and answer these queries:

What's burning, warm and fiery, in my life right now?

What would I (should I) like to kindle?

What advise do I ask?

What people in my life can I hold in the Light?

2. Christmas Novena, day 6:

From the Worldssps site:

In Communion with those Living in Slum Areas

Lord God, You came to give honor to the least, those forgotten, overlooked and misjudged.  You came to give first place to the last, those left behind, misunderstood and undervalued. You came to give a warm welcome to the lost, those who are orphaned, abandoned and destitute. 

Lord God, no one is a stranger to you and no one is ever far from your loving care. In your kindness, watch over the people in pavements and slums, those exposed to extreme poverty, neglect, and unjust systems; those separated from their loved ones, young people who are lost, and those who have left home or who have run away from home.  

Bring them back safely to the place where they long to be and help us always to show your kindness and compassion to all and thus expressing our communion especially to those in need.

3. Paint a plum tree calendar:

Funny looking plum tree!

Dong Zhi is the Chinese celebration of the winter solstice; the name means "Arrival Of Winter". It's a time of hope, optimism, and thanksgiving for a successful harvest, the fertility of the land, and the reunion of the family. The Chinese have a great feast on Dong Zhi. Everyone wears new clothes, and visits their families with gifts. 

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.

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, color one flower red each day. At the end of nine-times-nine days, 81 red blossoms will welcome the spring!

4. Make smultringer, Norwegian donuts:
These cake donuts are included as one of the seven Norwegian Christmas cookies (syv slag). You need to start a day early to let the dough set- I started them last night, to finish tonight for our solstice celebration.

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 3/4 c. sour cream
• 1/2 c. heavy cream
• 3 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1-1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
• 4-1/4 c. vegetable oil, for frying

Makes about 25 smultringer, plus doughnut holes

Eggs and sugar

1. Make the dough a day in advance. Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a large bowl for about 5 minutes or until the mixture is light and fluffy with a pale yellow color. Set aside.

Cream and sour cream

2. Whisk together the sour cream and heavy cream until soft peaks form, about 3 minutes. Gently blend this together with the egg and sugar mixture.








3. In a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, and cardamom. 

4. Gently fold this into the wet mixture until well-blended. The dough will be somewhat sticky and not dry, but stiff. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight.

5. The next day, pour the vegetable oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot and set over medium-high heat. The oil needs to reach a temperature of 320ºF, which takes about 10 minutes. Check the temperature with a kitchen thermometer and keep it within a range of 320 – 340ºF.

6. Prepare a large rack on top of a stack of paper towels, near to the stove where the oil is heating. 

7. Take the dough out of the refrigerator and place it on a lightly-floured surface. Roll to a thickness of 1/2–inch. 







Cut out donut shapes with a donut cutter (or a glass and a shot glass!).




8. When the oil has reached 320ºF place the smultringer- carefully- into the oil, about 4 at a time. Cook for 30 seconds or until the bottoms have turned golden brown. Flip over with a chopstick and cook for 30 seconds more or until golden brown. Remove with the chopstick and place on top of the cooling rack set above the paper towels. Repeat for all the donuts.



9. Cook the donut holes the same way, but turn sooner, after a few seconds. Remove with a metal, slotted spoon and place on the cooling rack.

5. Mothers Night Offering:

The winter solstice, for Saxons, is known as Modraniht, or Mothers Night, in honor of the Mothers who give birth to the Midwinter sun. On this first night of Yule the early Germanic and Scandinavian tribes paid tribute to the ancestral mothers who protected and watched over the family, helped with childbirth, and healed illnesses.

This Yuletide, light a candle and set a place at your table for your ancestral mothers. Ask them to make themselves known to you and stand by you during the coming year, that you may face the demands of the world with the strength and wisdom of your kin at your back. 

Offer them a bite to eat, as thanks for the help they give you. According to tradition, they like porridge with milk, fruit, smoked fish, and a mug of ale, cider or mead. Leave the plate out for one night, and the next day give the leftover food to the family pets or the wild animals, and pour the drink at the roots of a tree.

6. Solstice fire:
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. Traditionally, a large oak log is burned tonight, and kept lit for 24-hours or more. 

We are going to have a fire at our friends' house tomorrow night (a safe, socially-distanced fire)!