Yule, twelve nights and winter solstice for Pagans

bluemoon_3

I've been thinking about this thread and doing a bit of reading. I found a few interesting sites with Yule craft ideas (here's a couple):

http://members.fortunecity.com/rowansterling/crafts.html
http://www.jaguarmoon.org/public/Wheel/Yule/Crafts.html

Two issues strike me as obstacles in all of this. Firstly, the ill fit of many of the pagan rituals to modern life (for example, in your first post, Amos, you mentioned that you don't have the facilities to burn a Yule log) and secondly, the availability of many of the herbs and other symbolic materials (or the lack of).

It's been a whim of mine for a while to someday grow some of the plants that would once have been grown amongst the herbs and vegetables either for their medicinal properties or use in charms. I have an interest in it. Not academic or spiritual or for any degree of usefulness, but just to put a scent and tactile knowledge to the name. I wonder if this is perhaps a longer-term solution to the second problem? If holly, mistletoe and other plants are important for symbolism (or other reasons), could you grow them yourself in preparation for future celebrations? There'd be a wonderful satisfaction in that, I think, in nurturing them and watching them grow and it would save money in not having to purchase them from specialist stores.

The first problem is less straight-forward and perhaps ill-suited to this thread. The reality is that most of us now live in places where we don't have the facilities to perform some rituals and perhaps don't have easy access to nature. Our lives are a long way removed from those who initially applied these traditions with meaning. Is it possible to think about the reasons behind a ritual and replace it with something that is possible and has personal meaning? For example, replacing the yule log with a 12-day advent candle.

There are lots of religions that have a winter festival, a leaning towards nature and also some religions that share the compassionate sensibilities of neo-paganism (I'm thinking Buddhism and Hinduism). It may be possible to find some suitable ideas amongst their traditions too.

I'm also wondering whether some non-traditional decorations may be suitable. For example, making paper chains and snowflakes out of old magazines and decorations from craft materials you already own; strings of popcorn and 'gingerbread men' for the tree. The three 'R's are surely sympathetic to paganism.

Anyway, just thinking aloud. I do hope no one thinks I'm speaking out of line - I'm not a pagan, but I am an atheist with a pagan heart.

PS: Amos, please take note of tine's above post. If this thread is to continue, you may have to reign in your "bluntness". I'm biting my tongue, but I'm not sure everyone else will be able to do the same, and I can't see it ending up pretty.

JAMIEDODGER

come on guys, this is such a wonderful time of the year lets not squabble.

amos - you are right, yay to all that is great about yule:) i just love this time of year cant you tell:) and i think that the simplist decorations are the best drawing on natures bounty to symbolise our traditions.

bluemoon - a lovely idea to grow your own herbs, i cant agree to much, as selling herbs for magikal purposes is my job afterall lol. yes, it can be difficult to adapt pagan ritual to current lifestyles but not impossible...i for one wont be burning a yule log but lighting candles instead, kind of like the advent candle as you said.

have a wonderful yule everyone:)

jamie

Elixir

Yay to clementines with studded nuts?

Sod that, I once made a pommander of an orange dipped in spice studded all over in cloves. Coudnt feel my thumb for days!!!

MrsTinks

Amos I'll stomp my feet one last time Be nice!

Elixir I LOVE making pomanders! But I think the trick is to take a large darning needle and make the holes in the orange before you try to stab cloves into it you'll break less cloves and your fingers shouldn't be so sore (Make sure it's a decent size needle...)

Oddly I think a LOT of pagan decorations are what some might view as traditionally OS decorations... Maybe it's because most pagan paths follow nature very closely and so does the OS way of life? Saving money and saving natural resources are often very close Sprigs of evergreen, candles, logs, pine cones and so on

amosworks

There are a few woods near me and I'm definitely going to be out there a few times with my back-pack collecting lovely things which nature puts in my path (and trying not to get arrested for lurking in the bushes lol). Personally my favouritst thing about this time of year are the smells. It starts when the temperature changes and the leaves fall from the trees. As they decompose they release such wonderful natural aroma's, the real smell of the season. Then later on as the season progresses there are so many things which I enjoy that I know are in store, from the smell of bonfires to roasted chestnuts and then on to the snow season and the new abundant fauna like holly berrys, pine needles and pinecones. Each with their own lovely aroma. Then it takes you all the way through to the celebrations with fruits and vegetables, meats and cheeses, ales and wines. The smell of it snowing itself even!

The whole season is an absolute joygasm on the nose.

Amos

JAMIEDODGER

how wonderfully descriptive amos:) i will also be taking walks and collecting things, just go careful of the park police lol

tine- you are right,saving the planets resources is very moneysaving and totally pagan, reusing things, recycling and taking on board all this earth has to offer by way of tempting foods is at the very heart of the pagan path.

pavlovs_dog

after 'christmas' / your pagan celebrations are over, what do you do with all the pinecones/logs/ holly etc you have collected?

i know that traditional decorations have to be taken down by 12th night... do pagans do something similar (and is it a bit more ceremonial than putting the trimmings back in the box to go back up the attic for another year? )

oh and i never realised that pommanders had their origins in paganism. what do they symbolise?

MrsTinks

pavlovs_dog wrote:

after 'christmas' / your pagan celebrations are over, what do you do with all the pinecones/logs/ holly etc you have collected?

i know that traditional decorations have to be taken down by 12th night... do pagans do something similar (and is it a bit more ceremonial than putting the trimmings back in the box to go back up the attic for another year? )

oh and i never realised that pommanders had their origins in paganism. what do they symbolise?

AH Pomanders... not a widely debated subject but sit down for a short history lesson according to tine

I don't think they actually have their origin in Paganism, mainly due to the cold climates in northern europe and the fact that most references to them date back to Elizabeth I and Henry V. They were used to ward off illness and were often hung in "rooms of foul aire" - smelly places basically. They were carried on chains from the belts and eventually were crafted of silver as obviously royalty could not carry round mouldy oranges They did keep the shape of them however and were often modelled on oranges and apples. Traditionally they were hollowed out fruits stuffed with spices, now we stick them in the skin instead

Some argue that originally before Elizabeth and Henry that apples were studded with cloves and so forth - hence Pomanders (Pomme - french for apple) but I don't know if there is ONE agreed on version

As for disposing of the decorations... I suppose if you had an open fire you could burn most of it, I don't so I compost what I can How OS hehehe

Orange pomanders however can last a LONG time once dry so I have some hanging in the cupboards where I store the winter clothes - keeps them smelling lovelly

t

amosworks

I could never burn any of my decorations! I'm going to do what I do every year and neatly pack them away back in their box in the loft. I just hope that next year they're not all rotten or something. I think anything that looks like it might rot will just go with the ashes of the yule log and in to a corner of the garden.

I've been thinking about the log and because I can't burn it in my house I'm going to make a platform for it outside and do it there. I recently demolished an old brick BBQ in the garden and still have the bricks so will use them.

Last year I only actually decorated the main living room in the house, I think I'm going to do that again this year. It's quite a big house and I really don't want to rape all the goodies from the woods. Plus it's easier to do and undo, and is nice when you go overboard in just one room instead of having just a few bits in mainly bare rooms throughout the house. Does anyone else do this? I think just the lounge, a little in the hall and a few bits outside the door.

Plus of course I might do something special with my alter/shrine/weapons cache lol (Could dust out all the spiders for a start lol). Maybe something involving chiffon?

HairyHandofDartmoor

I think a pagan christmas sounds lovely, but I would love any christmas where I wasn't made to go to church (I was forced to go to sunday school as a child and I HATED IT).

But I'm all for free choice so I have no objection to any else going if that's what they like. Everyone enjoys christmas in their own way.