Secular Celebrations - Yule
At the very end of the Gregorian calendar comes the winter solstice and Yule. Technically, this is the FIRST holiday on the Wheel, since Samhain is the boundary between the old year and the new. But since most of us have to follow the January to December schedule in our day-to-day lives, weâll end with Yule.
The winter solstice is a time when we focus on hunkering down and staying warm. We look to the homestead, we take care of our families, and we make sure our communities are surviving the winter as comfortably as possible. This is one of the times that the Wild Hunt was said to ride, their presence indicated by howling winds and stormy nights when it wasnât safe to venture out. All manner of entities personifying hunger and cold and death stalk the landscapes of winter mythology, so we fortify our homes however we can and indulge in a little midwinter revelry to keep ourselves going until the spring.
Decorate with pine bunting, pine cones, holly, mistletoe, snow symbols, fairy lights, electric candles, ribbons, streamers, local fauna active during winter, whatever you like. There are plenty of Christmas wreaths out there, so donât be afraid to make a witchy one with a big old star in the middle. Make sure that any ACTUAL foliage is kept away from the pets, and of course, observe fire safety for any lights you put up. Way too many house fires are caused by electrical shorts in holiday lights, so be extra careful. Do NOT plug an extension cord into a power strip. And go easy on the plastic glitter. Anathema to some, I know, but the more of that we can keep out of the waste cycle and the water system, the less will end up in the oceans.
If you have a fireplace, you can burn a symbolic log âto drive the cold winter away.â Or, if you only have a cauldron or a burning bowl, you can find an outdoor space to burn some twigs and incense for the same purpose. Or you can light some candles with appropriately wintry scents. Or, if you canât burn anything at all, an LED candle left alight overnight on the altar should do the trick. The whole idea is to symbolize keeping warmth in the home, keeping the dark and the cold at bay, and keeping the home fires literally burning for those who must be elsewhere. However you manage this is fine.
Spend time with your near-and-dear, if you can. Eat good food, drink good wine, and do cozy things. Share treasured memories, and tell stories. Fun fact: Yule and Christmas are another traditional time of year for ghost stories, so feel free to pull those out again. If thereâs a family tradition of feasting and gift-giving, lean into it. There are a lot of Christian traditions from Christmas that have made their way into the secular sphere. Sure, they still have some religious associations, but I know plenty of atheists who still exchange presents because itâs FUN. You can also give gifts to others by contributing to charitable organizations, donating to clothing drives and food pantries, or through random acts of kindness to those who need it.
Charity and compassion should be emphasized during this time of year. I mean, you should be charitable and compassionate ALL year when you can manage it, thatâs just common decency. But especially when itâs cold and people are feeling that lack of money or resources and weâre surrounded by all these super-capitalistic ad campaigns telling us that our love for others is worth only as much as the kitchen appliances and diamond jewelry we put under the treeâŠ.yeah, maybe bring something a little more altruistic to the table. It doesnât have to be huge, it doesnât have to be performative. Just look for those opportunities to help someone out or make their life a little easier. Youâll know them when you see them.
If youâre crafty, pull out those projects youâve been saving for a rainy day. We often spend a lot of time cooped up in the house during cold weather, the more so in 2020 with the various lockdowns, so why not turn it into something productive? Fix something, create something new, work on that scarf youâve been meaning to finish since last winter. Make a pinecone feeder for the local birds, or scatter some nuts and dried berries for any critters that happen to be out and about. Do winter crafts with your kids to keep them occupied, if they happen to get bored of watching Frozen 2 for the hundredth time this week. (Hey, I only have nieces and a nephew, but Iâve still heard the horror stories.)
Let me pause a moment to address the proverbial elephant in the room. And this MIGHT be dipping a toe into the religion pool, but itâs an issue that a lot of us face. Late December can be a tough time for witches who were raised Christian but are, for one reason or another, disconnected from the faith or the Church at present. Thereâs the constant symbolism in music and decorations all around, pressure from our friends and families, people gnashing their teeth about red coffee cups, and so on. And weâre not even going to talk about the annual arguments over who stole whose holidays. If you know me, you know exactly how salty I can get on the topic, and we donât have time for that today. This is about finding ways to celebrate, not my personal rage over people who donât understand the difference between conflation and syncretism, and canât be arsed to read history that doesnât come from-...
Ooooo deep cleansing breath. Come on, Bree, you promised. (-hiss- I LIED.)
ANYWAY. Yule is a time when it might be worth remembering literally anything positive that came out of your experience with Christianity. Some of us have it, some of us donât, thatâs purely a personal matter. Some of us miss the carols, okay? There can be a lot of nostalgia involved in the season thatâs disconnected from whatever trauma or differences in belief led to that split. And if you want to pause and remember that fondly, thatâs okay. I will fully confess to singing along to Christmas hymns on the radio in my car at top volume because thatâs a big part of the season for me and always has been. Heck, I might even attend a service at the local Unitarian church. Theyâre nice and non-denominational and they focus much more on the meaning behind the season than any particular holiday. So if you feel the need for that fellowship, see if thereâs a UU church near you, or a virtual service online. Thereâs nothing wrong with revisiting your roots.
Moving back into witchcraft territory, you can collect clean snow and icicles to melt for winter moon water. This isnât really much different from moon water youâd make at any other time of year, but itâs another method of gathering the base material. Also, icicles are great for any water youâre setting aside for more aggressive or protective purposes. The fact that they look like hanging spears isnât lost on me.
Check your household protections and see if anything needs shoring up. Like I said, I cast my wards every year at Samhain, but they always seem to need a bit of detail work by the time Yule rolls around. Or heck, you might find Yule a more appropriate time to perform that casting, or maybe you refresh your wards at every holiday, who knows. Whatever works for you, as long as you remember to do it at some point. Cleanse your thresholds and the corners of your home, at the very least, just for good measure. But donât go sweeping anything out the door. Thatâs sweeping away your good luck for next year.
And speaking of New Yearâs, if the year youâve had has been particularlyâŠ.well, like the year weâve had, you can also burn the year in effigy and cleanse with incense for a fresh start. Just write it on a piece of paper and burn that S.O.B. in the cauldron. While youâre at it, you can symbolically burn lingering worries, bad habits, bad memories, and regrets with either candle flame or a burning bowl. And yes, that includes all those negative things you think about yourself that you wish would go away.
And finally, reflect on the year as a whole, with all the joys and lessons itâs brought you. What memories have you made? What has brought you joy? What do you regret? What have you learned? What skills have you developed and how will you use them? What improvements do you still wish to make? And what do you want to do with the coming year?
And around and around it goesâŠ.
Like I said at the beginning, this is by no means exhaustive. These are just some basic ideas to get you started. You can make your own celebrations and your own traditions as you, either by building off of existing ones or by creating something new. As long as it has meaning to you and marks the occasions you deem important in ways that are fun and festive, itâs all good. This is something Iâd love to see more often as a discussion - personal traditions, things that are unique to families or particular regions or individual witches, all the places they intersect, and all the various ways that we celebrate ourselves and each other and our craft.
- Hex Positive, Ep. 011 - Secular Celebrations (November 1, 2020)
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