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Sylvhia
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The Winter Solstice: The Winter's Fairies - Part One
Yule: The Winter Solstice
It is also called Saturnalia or Festival of Light
It's one of minors Sabbath, the celestial passage where nights are longer tha days and marks the start of astronomical winter.
This festival falls on the first calendar day of winter, much better known as the night of the Winter Solstice. This time of year was already celebrated in ancient Rome, with the Saturnalia (dedicated to Saturn), during these festivals were introduced in the celebrations of the use of candles, singing and carousing.
Yule is also an archaic term for Christmas (shown, for example, in the dictionaries of the English language, the term still appears in some Christmas carols and is still used in some dialects of Scots).
The celebration of winter solstice quickly spread throughout Europe and was born in the countryside Yule, linked to the celebration of the sun and the Mother Earth that, warmed by the sun first ray, prepare itself for future planting.
Among the various issues related to Yule, the main one is the battle between the old Holly King, a symbol of darkness and old age, and the young King Oak symbolizing the light of the new year.
The old king is symbolically killed and the young king took his place on the throne to rule.
Every year along with the rite of the Yule's log that ancient battle is repeated, in addition to the tradition of all huddling around the fire.
From that moment there was a mixture of festivals and pagan symbols ... as the decorated fir (now called Christmas Tree), or the holly wreaths. The fir example is the tree that represents the Goddess of this season, and the wreath represents the wheel of the year. Some traditions want the preservation of parts of the fir tree, which will then be burned to May Day / Beltane.
The word 'solstice' comes from the Latin 'solstitium', which literally means "sun still". In the northern hemisphere of the earth, in the days from 22 to 24 December the dark of the night reaches its maximum extension and the light of day, its minimum (ie, the longest night and the shortest day of the year).
Immediately after the solstice, the daylight gradually increase and the dark of night shrink until the summer solstice in June, when we have the longest day and the shortest night of the year.
The day of the solstice generally falls on 21, but for the reversal of the apparent solar motion it becomes visible on the third / fourth day following.
The sun, therefore,on winter solstice arrives at its most weak phase ,in terms of light and heat, and it apparently plunged in darkness, but then comes back to life and "invincible" on the same darkness.
And on December 25 seems to be reborn, that is, has a new "Christmas".
The celebrations of the Solstice go on throughout the Christmas period (Sol Invictis),and coincide with it, as we have said; and it is on this night that many witches traditionally hand the secrets of their art.
The solstice itself is called "the door", the symbol of a simultaneous existence of two dimensions, that during solstice are combined and the doors are open and permit the passage, it is the time of the symbolic death of the aspirant approaching the rite initiation.
It is a moment of cyclic transition considered magical and dramatic in ancient times: the days are becoming shorter and dark, up to the longest night of the year.
The darkness takes over the light, the night is longer than the day.
All of nature is like suspended in this symbolic death that wait for resurrection. The death of the light, the death of the sun, and the sun gives way to the darkness ,and then it reborn.
The days after the solstice became a little longer, and again the power of the Sun God grows and manifests itself in its light.
It is a symbology of magical valences and propitiatory centered on the myth of death and rebirth.
The days after the solstice are becoming a little 'longer, and again the power of the Sun God grows and manifests itself in its light.
It is a symbolism of magical and propitiatory valences centered on the myth of death and rebirth.
In all cultures since ancient and more remote times , this time of year was celebrated with bonfires to light up the night, candles, bonfires around which to celebrate, to invite the sun to come back again to illuminate the world.
The Winter Solstice is the first occurrence of the wheel of the year that includes the parties and magic, from here our esoteric path begins that winds through the other and subsequent festivities that purify and enrich us, up to the elevation of our spirit which takes place with the passage of the second door solstice, the summer one.
These are the alchemy stages , the awakening of the earth that we prepare for the next harvest.
It would be a good thing us to get up early inthe morning and greet the new sun. We can light candles or lights to represent the birth of our hopes for the new year.
We have to take a knife with white handle and affect a figure that represent the Sun on the the log to burn (must be oak), then we have to decorate it with red ribbons with sprigs of ivy, holly and birch,and then set it on fire.
If we celebrated this rite also the previous year and we have not burned a piece of the old log, we will light a fire with this, it says:
"As the old log is consumed, so it is also the old year ." Once the fire is lit we have to observe its flames and meditate on the rebirth of the light and our inner rebirth. We welcome our hopes, our dreams for the future and we salute this light, saying:
"Welcome, new light of the sun."
For the Youle meal, hot drinks such as punch and hibiscus tea or ginger, mulled wine are suitable, while the traditional dishes are nuts, dried fruit, apples, sweet cider with wet, and the pig. Let's drink and consume not forgetting to leave a part of our party for Mother Earth.
The oranges represent the sun, the foliage evergreen immortality, the ears harvest the future.
The holly, mistletoe and ivy decorating the house inside and outside and are an invitation to the Spirits of Nature to join the celebration.
A twig of holly goes kept near the door all year long.
The Mistletoe is solstice symbol , it is a sacred plant for DRUIDS that was severed from the tree on which it was born following a solemn ceremony.
The collection of mistletoe occurred especially in two particular moments of the year: Samhain and the Day of Saint John. Mistletoe was considered a panacea for all ills.
It is' a parasitic plant that has its roots in another's strength, not touching the ground and was considered a divine emanation.
The ancients, who also called it the "broom of lightning," thought it was born when lightning struck a tree.
Out of respect to its divine nature DRUIDS respectfully cut it using a golden sickle.
As well as fruit trees, evergreens are also a key element of the celebrations of the winter solstice. The evergreen tree that keeps its leaves all year round, is an obvious symbol of the persistence of life even through the cold and darkness of winter. Beer and bread were offered to trees in Scandinavia. The Yule tree was the fortune for a family as well as a symbol of the fertility of the year that would come
After all the festivity, people have to collect all Yule decorations and preserve fo IMBOLC.
END PART ONE*Attention please* - - "This translation (and / or content) is made by Sylvhia exclusively for "I Nove Mondi Forum". In case of partial or full release is mandatory to link to the original source and the required credits".
Edited by Sylvhia - 28/6/2014, 15:03
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The Winter Solstice: The Winter's Fairies - Part One18 Dicembre 2013 |
