Loaded and Ready for the Winter Solstice
This
year, I get to spend the Winter Solstice in the countryside… home… and
in my own backyard!
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I’ve
spent the last couple of months collecting and drying orange peels. They make
great offerings…
Yellow
leaves and flowers make great Winter Solstice offerings, too. My Jacob has filled
my days (and some baskets) with the prettiest of them all. I LOVE,
LOVE, LOVE
the way these ones dried…
Some
of the bounty has already gone into winter crafts. I will use the rest of these
bits of autumn to build a small fire in the yard before sunup… to watch the
flames kiss the heart of winter… to say goodbye to the Darkness with a flare.
Then very early in the morning, as the Young Sun takes his first bright breath
over the horizon, I shall bundle up, step out of my backdoor, and greet the
Light as I bite into a juicy sun-ripened orange. And I will smile ;-)
The Winter
Solstice is old, jolly, frosted with bright traditions…
What are your plans for the Winter Solstice, Yule, Saturnalia, Hanukkah, Hogswatch, Festivus, Christmas…
or whatever winter
holiday you celebrate, my Wicked Luvs?
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Love the offerings you collected, they are treasures of nature...why do we need to buy anything?
ReplyDeleteI am not going to celebrate the Solstice, but I do observe this phenomena. I am in wait for Christmas, anyway, all the believes are mixed nowadays, so I am pretty sure to start celebrating Yule or any other pagan holiday :)
Nature offers supplies and wit, priceless treasures indeed...
DeleteWell, considering that most Christmas' rituals come straight from Paganism, many of us have been celebrating the old ways for a long, long, long time ;-)
sometimes, I feel we are too serious about our holidays :) Let's just enjoy!:)
DeleteDitto.
DeleteUm....just imagining the aroma of the orange peel...and then the juice exploding on to your tastebuds...like tasting the very sun itself....ahhhh!!
ReplyDeleteThose yellow leaves are from a Gingko tree. One of my favorites. Love your collections and the heart behind them :)
Tasting the sun itself. Yep, I do love eating my gods in the morning ;-)
DeleteI LOVE Ginkgo leaves. I'll use them to make my Yule tree. I can't wait to share!
My heart will be overfilled with joy..surrounded by my children and grandchildren. We shall celebrate Christmas together and then have a feast!!
ReplyDeleteYum
Hugs
SueAnn
Nothing better than a loud holiday surrounded by loved ones and good food ;-)
DeleteLove that first photo! Putting orange peels in a fire would smell wonderful too -- wouldn't it?
ReplyDeleteThey do smell delicious! I also save mango peels, cinnamon sticks, pineapple peels... I swear that it is a smoky feast for the senses ;-)
DeleteI get weirdly traditional around Christmas, it is all the great food and drink! I don't believe in god, but Swedes call this time Jul - so I can be traditional without having to be religious :) I celebrate with family on Christmas Eve, and with friends on Christmas Day, and then possibly with family again on Boxing Day. Either way it's all about love and (and for) food :)
ReplyDeleteI actually just posted about traditional Swedish Christmas food traditions on my blog..!
It makes perfect sense that you want to celebrate an event that makes your friends and family happy. Nothing weird about that ;-)
DeleteI checked out your traditional Swedish Christmas food post, and need to admit that there was quite a bit of drooling done in my part ;-)
I celebrate nothing or else I celebrate every day. I've never been one for rituals. Holidays seem to be something that swirl around me.
ReplyDeleteI don't have the stamina to celebrate every single day like it was the Winter Solstice. I would probably die of orange of fatigue and overjoy lol
DeleteWe have a celebration on Winter Solstice inside, then go out to the fire pit and not only bid winter hello but also reinact a battle of the Holly King and the Oak King. The grands would not allow the beginning of Winter to be any other way. When we start inside, we bid the fae that would like to overwinter to join us inside our home.....and as at mid summer we leave the fae an offering as well.
ReplyDeleteLike you I rise early to greet the new sun alone and I relish this time as my own "new light".
xoxo Oma Linda
How sweet it would be to see Ry and GK war each other like winter and summer. And then getting all their presents and congratulations for a great performance.
DeleteEnjoy your time with the sun ;-)
The holidays are a big deal for my family - we put up our decorations over Thanksgiving weekend, watch Christmas movies, drink cocoa, the whole bit. My dad and I have purchased a Santa figurine for my mom every year since I was born (she has quite a collection now...) I usually do a small, private ritual on Yule and then we have dinner and presents on Christmas Eve. As much as I love Halloween, this is probably my favorite time of year!
ReplyDeleteAnd, of course, thanks for the plug on the magazine! :D
I would LOVE to see pictures of your mom's Santa's collection. The idea of seeing how the figurines have changed over the years is very exciting ;-)
DeleteHmm... ask and you shall receive... :P http://witchofhowlingcreek.wordpress.com/2012/12/06/santa-claus-is-coming-to-town/
DeleteLOVE your Ginko leaves, and wish I could smell the oranges when they get thrown into the fire. I have lime peels to do the same with. I'm not sure what we will do for the actual holidays, but I've been crafting a lot. Making my own candles and brewing up toasted coconut mead, as well as constructing an ugly cork Yule Tree. If Hubby's ribs are healed enough by then I will ask for a beach fire and celebrate with fire and water, which is what I do for just about any holiday. Tee hee, any excuse for a beach fire. We don't buy gifts for each other, so we'll probably do something special like have a picnic or go out to eat.
ReplyDeleteI hope your Hubby's ribs heal, so that he can light your fire properly. Everybody should have some heat during the Winter Holidays ;-)
DeleteA little blood, a little tequila, some crushed hematite and a very long prayer to whatever's listening for prosperity in the new year.
ReplyDeleteBlood and tequila, huh? Interesting... Pictures?
DeleteIm dont know if that communion would show up on film but why not try, right?
DeleteIt will probably not. Like vampires ;-)
DeleteDelicious colours - I am loving those orange peels :) So nice that you are in the country - I sure miss it now that I live right in the city.
ReplyDeleteIt will be my first time spending it in the country in more than five years. I'm psyched. Enjoy the city lights!
DeleteI can feel the excitement and heat filling you up from here :D, and I know you will be crying with happiness as you greet that morning sun :D XXX
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling, Gina Luv, that your assessment is quite right. Even the thought puts a shine in my witchy eyes ;-)
DeleteHow fabulous ~ I love all the natural ingredients! Isn't it wonderful to be surrounded by nature ~ it speaks to us so clearly.
ReplyDeletePlans for solstice? Kind of waiting to see what happens with that one ~ will be interesting to see if the Mayan calender simply restarts or if anything major happens. If we make it to Christmas (LOL) then I'll be baking up a storm for my visiting family and that's always a HUGE treat!
Hugs♥
I totally forgot about the possibility of the world ending and stuff. Oh well, I guess I better eat all my treats then ;-)
DeleteI'm a sucker for natural bits!
I never thought of drying orange peels! I love this time of year!
ReplyDeleteThis time of the year is very nice, indeed. Specially if you get to do some dancing around orange peel-fed fires ;-)
DeleteWintermass! I like the orange and yellow flowers thing. Yellow is mah favorite color you know. ;) I wish I liked to eat oranges though. I bet I can get Mouse to eat one. :P
ReplyDeleteLet me know if Mouse enjoys a few--I LOVES them. And if you don't like the fruit by itself, there is always juice ;-)
DeleteAwww
ReplyDelete;-)
Deleteoh i LOVE your collected treasures...offerings!
ReplyDeletei like to collect these winter treasures too...and have been known to find a nice spot outside someplace, where i create a picture with these leaves, feathers, pine cones...a sort of mandala...take a picture and then let the wind carry them away!! well, not always...i take them in the house too...fill baskets...
aaaah, winter!
Winter and his colorful cousin, Autumn, are full of treasures that they don't seem to mind sharing. I think we honor them when we collect them and set them up in pretty ways ;-)
DeleteYes, aaaah winter!
Lovely photos! It isn't so apparent here in southern Canada but when I lived in the Yukon the winter solstice was the point at which we thought we would survive after all. The sun didn't come over the mountain for 6 weeks, then the solstice and 6 minutes of sun, 6 more minutes every day. Truly a joyous occasion!
ReplyDeleteHow lovely it would be to see the baby sun getting bolder and bolder, six minutes at the time, as he gets closer to the summer. A feast to the eyes and heart!
Delete