Honoring Our Ancestors During Winter
Sweet, comforting winter is here – a season full of opportunities for manifestation, fulfillment, and love. December 21st, the first official day of winter, marks Yule, the Winter Solstice. People often think of Samhain as the holiday to celebrate our ancestors, but the Winter Solstice is an amazing time to pay homage to those who walked before us as well. This time is about togetherness, so let’s all weave to gather the past with the present.
This is the time of year when there’s a shift in light —from this point forward, days are longer and nights are shorter, making it the perfect time to celebrate light and welcome it in your life. It is considered the rebirth of the sun, and for thousands of years the winter solstice has been kept sacred in all different traditions, such as Celtic, Nordic, and ancient Roman and Greeks. It is celebrated with the element of fire, dance, merriment, and gratitude.
Communities would celebrate the solstice with the Yule Log, a ceremonial log that has to be gifted or found, mixed with the ash from the previous year’s Yule Log, and would build a massive celebratory fire to honor the return of light.
As you settle into your cozy home and prepare a feast for dinner, consider what winter was like for those who walked before you. Winter was a time of deep reflection and preparation to enter what was known as the season of death. Winter was hard for our ancestors; it was a time when the unknown was a threat. They did not know if their harvest was going to last the whole season, or if the cold snow and winter months were going to prevent them from getting their basic needs or traveling.It was vital to keep the faith in a time of uncertainly, which is why the yule log was burned for twelve days to honor the light in the face of the darkness.
This winter solstice, reflect and pay respect to your ancestors who worked to ensure your survival. Call upon your ancestors for courage and a dose of faith. Stand as strongly as they did to manifest the most profound and safe future, where everybody is honored, everybody is fed, everybody is sacred, and everybody, including the Earth, is protected.
Give thanks for the life that most of us live, and the ease that comes with that. Instead of getting stressed that you have to run to the market before dinner, give thanks that there is a market open to receive food. We are so blessed in this life, and our ancestors paved the way for us to be here.