Merry Winter Solstice
Happy Winter Solstice, friends!
The winter solstice marks the exact moment when half of Earth is tilted the farthest away from the sun and because of that, in the Northern Hemisphere, it is the one day of the year with the least amount of daylight, the longest night.
As I continue to strengthen my nature connection, I’m drawn to learn more about the ways of the ancestors who lived in harmony with the land. I was reading about the winter solstice and thought I’d share this tidbit with you...
In ancient cultures, the winter solstice was seen as a significant time of year. It was (and still is) a celebration of the return of the sun, honoring its place in sustaining nature, and rebirth, the promise of new life in spring. Also associated with solstice, many cultures honored a winter goddesses who flew across the sky in search of the sun, led by flying reindeer.
Sound familiar? Yes, Santa Claus originated from a sun goddess worshipping past.
But while modern culture may have us believing that Santa’s reindeer---Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder and Blitzen---were boys, it turns out they were girls. Reindeer are different from the white-tailed deer most of us are familiar with. Female reindeer are larger than their male counterparts and also have antlers. In fact, at the time of the winter solstice, the only reindeer to still have their antlers are female---the does, as the bucks shed their antlers in November.
To the ancestors of Northern Europe, the doe, in particular, was seen as the giver of light and life. She was a sacred animal. In a landscape where it is barren and frozen for half the year, she kept the people alive, offering her body for food, hides for clothing, antlers for tools, and providing muscle power to pull a sleigh.
As author, Danielle Prohom Olson, writes…
From the British Isles, Scandinavia, Russia, Siberia, across the land bridge of the Bering Strait, she was a revered spiritual figure associated with fertility, motherhood, regeneration and the rebirth of the sun (the theme of winter solstice).
Her antlers adorned shrines and altars, were buried in ceremonial graves, and were worn as shamanic headdresses. Her image was etched in standing stones, woven into ceremonial cloth and clothing, cast in jewelry, painted on drums, and tattooed onto skin.
The reindeer was often shown leaping or flying through the air with neck outstretched and legs flung out fore and aft. Her antlers were frequently depicted as the tree of life, carrying birds, the sun, moon and stars. And across the northern world, it was the Deer Mother who took flight from the dark of the old year to bring light and life to the new.
I wish you all a beautiful holiday season.
Forest Love,
Julie
And don't think the garden loses its ecstasy in winter. It's quiet, but the roots are down there riotous. --Rumi