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This new year marks 12 months of me following the wheel of the year. I have been seeing how the different pagan festivals fit in with the world around me. I have been thinking about it this winter solstice season in particular. 🧵
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in reply to Raven

Raven
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Raven
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My background is very christian, I grew up singing in the church choir. Christmas is a woven fabric of traditional choral music, attending church in darkness, with candles and the atmosphere of excitement. Some of my family are still devout christians.
How does a pagan celebration of the season fit in with that?
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in reply to Raven

Raven
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Raven
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In the preindustrial era, Christmas was celebrated over 12 days. 12 days of festival, and importantly, holiday, a break from work. In the darkest and shortest of days, there was not much work that needed doing. The animals were cared for, but the other work that the majority of people in the countryside did, could wait a couple of weeks. What better time to give everyone 12 days off. Time to rest and recuperate. A season we have forgotten in our modern capitalist world.
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Raven
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Raven
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Thinking back to when stone circles were made, that mark the sunrise on the shortest day. People had no calendars to tell them the date. Today people go on the morning of the shortest day, and gather to watch the sun rise (although here in the UK it is often so cloudy you can’t tell whether the sun is up or not!).
I imagine, that in the past, someone would be there every morning, watching. The days would grow shorter, maybe a single person at first would go to watch, eager for the sun to turn. Then as it got close, more people would take up the vigil, until the turning of the year was marked.
How accurate are the stones anyway? Would the sun hit the right spot for several days in a row?

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in reply to Raven

Raven
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Raven
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To me, midwinter is not just one day, it should be marked as a season, a couple of weeks of festival. Gathering in expectation, celebrating a turning point, and looking to the next year. It can fit in with my culturally christian society. Does it matter if the big seasonal feast is a few days later than solstice? Not for me, after all, it might have been cloudy on midwinter morning, and I didn’t see that the sun had turned until the next clear morning.
/🧵
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