December 23, 2025: The Coming of the Light--Winter Solstice Traditions

Today, hosts Margie and Barbara, with Barbara's 10 year old granddaughter, talked about the variety of northern hemisphere winter solstice traditions and how many pagan traditions have been incorporated into more modern traditions to celebrate the darkness and coming of the light.  

While for many, the dark days of last autumn have a negative impact on their lives, such as those affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder, the dark days were also a time of rest after harvest, a calmness, and a time of renewal prior to anticipation of the return of the light.  Traditions such as feasting at the solstice, merriment, burning of the Yule log, family gatherings, and decorating evergreens were adopted from pagan winter solstice practices, and we now see them as mistletoe, Christmas trees, candles, songs, festivals and more in modern religious practices of modern religions, particularly Christianity and some eastern religions.  

Many of today's holy sites, such as the pyramids of the Mayans and mission churches of California and Latin America were build to let in shafts of light and illuminate direction and alters and sacred objects.   Stonehenge remains a mystery--the columns line up with the movements of the sun, but no one knows why this is so.   

You probably won't notice the gradual lengthening of the days when you wake up on December 22, but you will as we head to the vernal equinox in late March.

Next week, we will gather to talk about how we bring about the changes we proposed as president for a day via re-education, registration and voting, rage, resistance, rebellion and revolt.