Pagan Solstice Traditions

[tmancour]

Just curious: with the Solstice coming up, what Solstice traditions have evolved with your practice? I know with my kids the arrival of the Holly King (brings them a basket of presents on Solstice morning) is an appetizer for Santa (though I point out that Santa is an iteration of the Holly King -- but hey, the oldest is six -- they'll figure it out). We also have our Solstice tree and usually do a Very Big Dinner Solstice night.

Other folks? Just curious.

Arion the Blue
High Druid of Durham

[Durthorin]

Just curious: with the Solstice coming up, what Solstice traditions have evolved with your practice? I know with my kids the arrival of the Holly King (brings them a basket of presents on Solstice morning) is an appetizer for Santa (though I point out that Santa is an iteration of the Holly King -- but hey, the oldest is six -- they'll figure it out). We also have our Solstice tree and usually do a Very Big Dinner Solstice night.

Other folks? Just curious.

Arion the Blue
High Druid of Durham

A quiet tradition I have followed for years is to cut greenery from my own fir trees and wrap with holly and place it above each door in the house asking for blessings upon those within thru the cold of winter. At Imbolc I take them down and burn them as an offering.

Also I usually have a Yule gathering with Pagan freinds around the 21st.

Brighid Bless, Dur

[Richbee]

Just curious: with the Solstice coming up, what Solstice traditions have evolved with your practice? I know with my kids the arrival of the Holly King (brings them a basket of presents on Solstice morning) is an appetizer for Santa (though I point out that Santa is an iteration of the Holly King -- but hey, the oldest is six -- they'll figure it out). We also have our Solstice tree and usually do a Very Big Dinner Solstice night.

Other folks? Just curious.

Arion the Blue
High Druid of Durham

Throw another log on the bone-fire?

Toss your children through the Fire while Mom and Dad sing old Celtic songs?

On what do you base your fantasy notions of "Holly King"???

Now, you should appreciate that the transformation of Saint Nicholas to Santa Claus happened largely in America -- with inspiration from the Dutch. In the early days of Dutch New York, "Sinterklass" became known among the English-speaking as "Santa Claus" (or "Saint Nick"). In 1809 Washington Irving, a member of the New York Historical Society (which promoted a Dutch Saint Nicholas as its patron saint), created a tale of a chubby, pipe-smoking little Saint Nicholas who road a magic horse through the air visiting all houses in New York. The elfish figure was small enough to climb down chimneys with gifts for the good children and switches for the bad ones.

No Holly King need apply at Macy's.

Next, go fur some old Norse tales?

Quoting Ben Best:

December feasts were common in Europe because it was necessary to slaughter cattle that could not be fed during the winter and because the meat could be preserved by the cold weather. The word Yule may come from the Anglo-Saxon word geol (feast), applied to December (geola, feast month). Or it may come from a Norse-Saxon word meaning wheel, referring to the seasonal cycles of the sun. Or it could have come from the Scandinavian Jule (Jul), who was the god of sex and fertility. ("Tide" as in "yuletide" may have come from an Old English word meaning time, occasion or season.)

Midwinter sun festivals were celebrated in ancient Britain & Scandinavia. In Germanic & Scandinavian countries a huge log was carried into the house to serve as the foundation for holiday fires. The Yule log at Jultid (Yuletide) would burn for twelve days, and a different [child] sacrifice would be made on each of the twelve days. Lighted candles and winter fires were used by sun-worshippers to encourage the rebirth of the Sun.

Note: The "Twelve Days of Christmas" is a fanciful English folk song without hidden symbolic meanings. It was probably used to teach children how to count.

Sometimes a tree is just tree. The German song "O Tannenbaum" became translated into the American "O Christmas Tree" (and is the melody for the state songs of Maryland, Iowa, Michigan and New Jersey).

Peace, and enjoy God's grace and mercy upon his Earth!

Merry Christmas! or "Christes Maesee" (Old English for Christ's Mass)

Any pagan asociations with the Christian holiday are repudiated and replaced as it were with a Holy holiday to celebrate the birth of Christ. (Check your calender for changes around 600 A.D.)

Pop Quiz:

What is today's date in ancient Rome? (old calender)

Soltice?

[tmancour]

Throw another log on the bone-fire?

Toss your children through the Fire while Mom and Dad sing old Celtic songs?


"Yule Fire", actually, and we don't throw the kids through it. That's Beltaine and Samhain. At Yule we roast marshmallows and drink cocoa.


On what do you base your fantasy notions of "Holly King"???


There is a myth in Neo-Paganism that involves the Wheel of the Year: that from the time between Beltaine and Samhain the Earth Goddess has ascendency, with the Oak King as Her consort. The other half of the year has the Holly King in ascendence with the Queen of Winter as His consort. In visualization the Holly King is usually a jolly old bearded man, an iteration of Santa Claus at this time of year, and one that can trace roots back to Odin/Woton in concept. The Holly King is a personification of the season of Winter.

As to what I base them on, I think Divine Inspiration is adequate.



Now, you should appreciate that the transformation of Saint Nicholas to Santa Claus happened largely in America -- with inspiration from the Dutch. In the early days of Dutch New York, "Sinterklass" became known among the English-speaking as "Santa Claus" (or "Saint Nick"). In 1809 Washington Irving, a member of the New York Historical Society (which promoted a Dutch Saint Nicholas as its patron saint), created a tale of a chubby, pipe-smoking little Saint Nicholas who road a magic horse through the air visiting all houses in New York. The elfish figure was small enough to climb down chimneys with gifts for the good children and switches for the bad ones.

No Holly King need apply at Macy's.


That's cool. Few Pagans shop at Macy's. Nor Wal-Mart, due to the curse and their pandering to the dominant religious culture. Many of us do go to Target, however.

[/quote]
Next, go fur some old Norse tales?

Quoting Ben Best:

December feasts were common in Europe because it was necessary to slaughter cattle that could not be fed during the winter and because the meat could be preserved by the cold weather. The word Yule may come from the Anglo-Saxon word geol (feast), applied to December (geola, feast month). Or it may come from a Norse-Saxon word meaning wheel, referring to the seasonal cycles of the sun. Or it could have come from the Scandinavian Jule (Jul), who was the god of sex and fertility. ("Tide" as in "yuletide" may have come from an Old English word meaning time, occasion or season.)

Midwinter sun festivals were celebrated in ancient Britain & Scandinavia. In Germanic & Scandinavian countries a huge log was carried into the house to serve as the foundation for holiday fires. The Yule log at Jultid (Yuletide) would burn for twelve days, and a different [child] sacrifice would be made on each of the twelve days. Lighted candles and winter fires were used by sun-worshippers to encourage the rebirth of the Sun.

Note: The "Twelve Days of Christmas" is a fanciful English folk song without hidden symbolic meanings. It was probably used to teach children how to count.

Sometimes a tree is just tree. The German song "O Tannenbaum" became translated into the American "O Christmas Tree" (and is the melody for the state songs of Maryland, Iowa, Michigan and New Jersey).

Peace, and enjoy God's grace and mercy upon his Earth!

Merry Christmas! or "Christes Maesee" (Old English for Christ's Mass)

Any pagan asociations with the Christian holiday are repudiated and replaced as it were with a Holy holiday to celebrate the birth of Christ. (Check your calender for changes around 600 A.D.)
[/quote]

That's the business of the church people. The wizard people, we rather enjoy the Pagan residue involved in Christmas. Whither the particular symbols and traditions come from is far less important than the associations of those symbols. My family celebrates the secular side of Christmas, and the religious side of Solstice, and notes the similarity between the two holidays as they are evolving. Santa, after all, is a Great and Powerful Wizard as well as being a symbolic personification for the season. I'm likely to come up with a Pagan origin for the Jolly Ole Elf this year.

As a side note, I personally like Christmas because for a few short weeks a year, Christians sometimes act like they are supposed to act all the time.

Season's Greetings,

Arion the Blue
High Druid of Durham

(Only 8 more shopping days 'till Solstice!)

[Richbee]

"Yule Fire", actually, and we don't throw the kids through it. That's Beltaine and Samhain. At Yule we roast marshmallows and drink cocoa.

Jumping through the fire or hinting at throwing your kids in the fire is an age old tradition in formely Celtic lands and recalls the memories of burning children or criminals in the fire. An infamous practice, actually opposed by the Romans no less.

Your children are supposed be grateful that you don't sacrifice them to one of your"gods"!? The gods are merciful?

There is a myth in Neo-Paganism that involves the Wheel of the Year:

Not really a myth?

Just a modern invention of who? John Keats? A notion from Theosophy?

A work of fiction without any historical foundation, or did you miss the truth as revealed by Charolette Allen?

.....that from the time between Beltaine and Samhain the Earth Goddess has ascendency, with the Oak King as Her consort.

Sez who? Hubris? More fantasy Lit'? I understand, after you've read Tolkien like a obsessed lunatic 200 times, you might just buy any fable?

Both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein were established scholars in ancient myths and would bust you everyday this week till Sunday. Get real boyo.

....The other half of the year has the Holly King in ascendence with the Queen of Winter as His consort.

There is no "Holly King" dumb-dumb.

Go back and read Sir William Frazer and The Golden Bough.

In visualization the Holly King is usually a jolly old bearded man, an iteration of Santa Claus at this time of year, and one that can trace roots back to Odin/Woton in concept. The Holly King is a personification of the season of Winter.

More crapola.

Woton was the god of War that brought thousands of years of misery to the Tuetonic, or Germanic peoples. Hitler luv'd that crap.

So did Carl Jung, who was a Nazi until 1945.

As to what I base them on, I think Divine Inspiration is adequate.

Actually we can trace the origin of this fantasy and fiction. (i.e. lies)

Merry Christmas to you too. Immanuel - God is with us.

If I were your Son or Daughter, I'd grow up and call you you on this crapola!

Geez, at least we know where Santa Claus came from, and was always toungue-in cheek, or a vehicle of 5th Avenue advertising made more famous by Coca-Cola in December advertising campaigns of the 1930's.

We can learn about the true™ Saint Nichols, of Nic' and be tickled by the joy of giving.

Can ya' feel the luv yet?

:kiss:

:love:

:dance:

A fantabous night for a Moon dance? Oooo, schucks, still chasing the Sun, and missing the Son? :lmbo:

[Durthorin]

Clutch,

May you have a blessed Yule. May you learn and grow and be loved by those that care for you.

Danu Bless, Dur

[tmancour]

Jumping through the fire or hinting at throwing your kids in the fire is an age old tradition in formely Celtic lands and recalls the memories of burning children or criminals in the fire. An infamous practice, actually opposed by the Romans no less.

Your children are supposed be grateful that you don't sacrifice them to one of your"gods"!? The gods are merciful?


Neo-Pagans as a rule don't sacrifice, children or others. I'm starting to think we should make exceptions in some circumstances. The whole "burning of children or criminals" crap misses an important point: fire is a valuable thing to any early culture, and especially so in the northern Celtic areas. No need to get lurid. Fire good.


Not really a myth?

Just a modern invention of who? John Keats? A notion from Theosophy?

A work of fiction without any historical foundation, or did you miss the truth as revealed by Charolette Allen?


Uh . . . check a calendar? Hardly a modern invention. Indeed, a human universal, and therefore worthy of inclusion in any earth-based spirituality (Earth, by the way, is that place that we live.)


Sez who? Hubris? More fantasy Lit'? I understand, after you've read Tolkien like a obsessed lunatic 200 times, you might just buy any fable?

Both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein were established scholars in ancient myths and would bust you everyday this week till Sunday. Get real boyo.


Wow. I read an "established scholar in ancient myth" and dare include it as an influence to the nourishment of a modern myth, and you take exception to that? And if I was able to "just buy any fable" I'd still be a Christian. I think that part of the problem is that we are using the term "myth" in two seperate contexts: you are placing it as "fantasy fiction" whereas I am using it as "story of the collective unconscious".


There is no "Holly King" dumb-dumb.


Why, yes there is. He leaves my kids toys every Winter Solstice. Same holds true for a lot of Pagan children. How much more proof could you ask for? He's as Real (tm) as Santa Claus and Moses. He just isn't as well known. Paganism, you see, is a LIVING RELIGION, meaning that it is an organic, growing thing, not a static slab of text trapped in theological amber.



More crapola.

Woton was the god of War that brought thousands of years of misery to the Tuetonic, or Germanic peoples.


Go back and read the Eddas. Odin wasn't a War God; Tyr and Thor were War Gods. Odin was the Magician God, the Trickster God, the Divine Shaman who sacrificed himself to himself. And he had a soft spot for children. He didn't bring any more misery to the Germans than Jesus did. Or did I miss something and a bunch of Odinists inspired the 30 Years War? I thought it was solely a Christian scrap.


Hitler luv'd that crap.

So did Carl Jung, who was a Nazi until 1945.


Yeah, yeah, yeah, and so were the last two popes. Hitler pushed Teutonic paganism as a Nationalistic movement, not a serious religious movement. Shall we go back and look at the brutal dictators and genocides within the Christian faith, and judge that religion by them alone?



Actually we can trace the origin of this fantasy and fiction. (i.e. lies)


So, you are denying me the possibility of divine inspiration? Seems kinda petty, considering most of Christian scriptures fall under that catagory. Yes, fantasy and fiction have informed my religion, just as the Enuma Elish and the Egyptian and Canaanite pagan religions and Greek philosophy informed the formation of Judaism. Does that fact invalidate Judaism? All religions are syncretic. How can you tell with certainty the presence and effect of divine inspiration?


Merry Christmas to you too. Immanuel - God is with us.

If I were your Son or Daughter, I'd grow up and call you you on this crapola!


As my oldest is six, he's got a better handle on magickal living than you. I'll trust his judgement on the matter. An admonition to "grow up" seems contra to the message Jesus was preaching: that you had to become as a little child to enjoy the kingdom of heaven. My kids know magick when they see it, and it ain't in a cheap plastic light-up nativity scene.


Geez, at least we know where Santa Claus came from, and was always toungue-in cheek, or a vehicle of 5th Avenue advertising made more famous by Coca-Cola in December advertising campaigns of the 1930's.

We can learn about the true™ Saint Nichols, of Nic' and be tickled by the joy of giving.

A fantabous night for a Moon dance? Oooo, schucks, still chasing the Sun, and missing the Son? :lmbo:

Can't say I'm missing all that steaming pile of hypocrisy. Have a joyous Yule, and rejoice at the rebirth of the Sun.

Arion the Blue