A friend shared this poem on the Winter Solstice and I want to share it here as well.
“And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us – listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.”
Welcome yule!
― Susan Cooper
It’s always hard for me to put into words what exactly it is about the Solstice that I love so much, what it is I feel on this day. This comes close.
A few years ago I was suddenly hospitalized for emergency gallbladder surgery right before the Solstice and it forced me to be still and trust. I spent a lot of time sleeping, healing, reading, and of course watching a lot of holiday movies on Netflix. And I learned to lean into it and enjoy it, and know the work would eventually get done. And then slowly and surely, my body healed and muscle memory had me up and moving, back at my desk within 2 weeks, and even back at the gym in a few weeks.
We still have some cold dark nights ahead of us here in PA even as we’ve been gaining a minute of light since the Winter Solstice. I’ve learned over the years to embrace the light of the day, the low sun, the gorgeous sunsets, the bare bones of winter in nature, the frigid temps, knowing it’s seasonal and we are indeed gaining light each day.
Wishing you blessings during this holiday season and into 2018.
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