It’s the darkest night of the year. It’s also cold outside. The harvest is well and truly over and in times of old, you were living off of whatever you were able to store up in your larders and your root cellars. You are huddled in your home, hoping that you have laid in enough wood to keep the fire stoked so that you can stay warm.
On the night of the Solstice, it’s far enough into the winter that there’s no turning back now. If you haven’t included it in your preparations, you probably won’t have time to get it now. What you have is what you have, and if it’s not enough, you’re in trouble. But you’re also not close enough to the spring to know if you’re going to make it. Will it be a long winter or a short one? Will there be many storms or will the weather stay mild? You don’t have any real idea. The dark and the cold might outlast you yet, even with good preparation.
This knife edge is the place you are at on the eve of the Solstice, the holiday that pagans call Yule. So why are we celebrating in such a precarious time? It seems strange.
And yet, it’s a very human thing to do. It’s when we’re unsure of the future that we turn to the people around us and seek connection. We remind ourselves that we are not alone, that when things are rough, we can get through things with the help and love of the people around us. Community is not just about…
