Speaker:- Barbara Thomborson
Worship Leader:- Karn Cleary
No recordings this week.
Read below, or download the PDF
Barbara Thomborson © 23 June 2024
Our Christmas traditions came from ancient Nordic and Celtic pagans. You already knew that, right? To this native of the northern hemisphere, New Zealanders use those traditions at the wrong time of the year. The British are blessed with numerous ways to celebrate the winter solstice because the Vikings and Romans, then French, brought their traditions to England and Scotland. These pagans’ earth-based deities and celebrations came from their agricultural lives and dependence on nature. They had to live in tune with nature, and nature inspired all of their holidays.
The word Yule comes from the Old Norse for ‘wheel’. Both the Norse and Celts ascribed to a wheel of the year. At winter solstice, the wheel finished its turning. The old god had to die at Yule so the new son could be born which restarted the wheel.
Almost all cultures, ancient and current, held gatherings for winter solstice to help dispel depression from the long nights of darkness, especially in northern Europe. It was a time of feasting and drinking. Wassail was both a wish for good health and alcoholic drink of barley beer, warm cider, or warm, spiced wine. Pagans did circle dances while singing seasonal carols. The circle dances symbolized the turning of the wheel of the year. They also caroled while going from house to house for some food and drink. The Romans brought their tradition of gift giving as part of their Saturnalia celebrations. At Yule, medieval British also gathered to play games of divination, like casting sacred stones or reading tarot cards. This divination was for understanding the past year, anticipating the new year, and personal understanding of the self.
The most obvious reason for creating celebrations was to deal with fear at this fallow time and during long, dark days. Ancient and medieval pagans made and gave bright decorations of silver and gold. Bringing greenery indoors was important. Ivy vines symbolized friendship and fidelity; holly was protection from bad luck. Wreaths of greenery and berries symbolized the Yule wheel. The Yule tree, both inside and outside, was a pine or a yew. The pine’s meaning was for healing and cleaning of air, while the yew symbolized rebirth and the spirit realm. Those pagans also decorated with holly berries for red and mistletoe for white. Mistletoe represented male fertility.
Fire is the most ancient way of banishing the dark. Over centuries, pagans used candles, bonfires (bone fires), and burning the yule log for light over Yuletide. They preferred the oak, as they believed the giant tree was a gateway between the dying year and the new year. If the Yule log burnt less than 12 days, it was a bad omen.
What lessons can we take from this ancient wisdom?
It’s a time for sensual pleasures: Cosying up under soft blankets, warm comfort foods, including spices like cinnamon, especially in tea and wine.
Of course, it’s a time for fire: light a scented candle. Enjoy the warm glow of a woodfire. Throw some pine boughs on it for a lovely fragrance.
It’s a time for gifts, even if you only gift yourself.
Yule is a time to slow down, even stop for a while, like Nature does. Some trees drop all their leaves; all plants stop growing – it’s their down time, days for absolute rest. Take a lesson from Papatuanuku, mother Earth.
It’s a time for introspection. Turn inwards and contemplate your life; try for more self-understanding. Get a tarot reading.
Lastly, it’s a time for magic. On a cloudless night, go out and appreciate the stars. Sit outside and marvel at those amazing fires at unimaginable distances from us. Or just go out and savour the darkness, maybe meditate on it. There is calm in lack of visual stimulation; Take solace in the darkness.
I’ll close with poet Wendell Berry’s ode titled To Know The Dark:
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is travelled by dark feet and dark wings.