Happy Winter Solstice

Soon we will be at the winter solstice [December 21/22] and as a friend joyfully said: "we start adding daylight back!"

I don't know - here in Portland I am still trying to get used to the fact that it is dark outside in the morning - until about 7:50AM - well into the 2nd week of January.

What I am reminded of each turn of a season is when I was teaching in a small New England town and we celebrated the solstices and equinoxes [if those are the correct pluralization] by doing some of the rituals we found in mythology books.

It was fun but all I can recall these many years later is that it was pretty cold out in the field in late December and most of us wanted to get back inside to a warm fire and warm food.

But most of us have some sorts of rituals we do each season's start...some have become religious rituals and some more individualistic. Most religions have a "holiday" that coincides with the turn of the season and they can be very similar. Like light being added at the winter solstice. There is the lighting of menorahs; the lighting of Christmas trees [and houses]; lighting of Kwanzaa candles and in my neighborhood, the lighting on boats that do a parade route on the rivers.

Whatever is your winter ritual - enjoy it - add to it or keep it the same forever - it's yours!