"Happy Solstice!"

One thing I noticed over the holy-days was that a surprising number of people, on twitter and elsewhere, wishing one another a happy Solstice. I'm not even talking about Pagans - Buddhists, agnostics, the non-religious, and those whose affiliations I do not know. Some suggested to one another activities like lighting a fire or going out to dance in the snow.

It was strange, and for some reason quite gratifying. This of course is a religious festival for me, and for many of us, and it's very pleasing to see people for whom it is not a religious festival still getting into, shall we say, the spirit of the season, and feeling moved to do something, to say "Happy Solstice", even if it's not, for them, a religious holiday.

The great George Carlin once said that if he was going to worship anything, it would be the sun. You can see it, it gives you food, warmth and light, and without it you would die. (Sounds good to me.) But in a way he has a point... whether or not you consider this a religious celebration, the Solstice exists regardless. It's an astronomical time that you don't need to be religious to mark and celebrate if you feel like it; the sun exists for atheists as much as it does for people who worship sun deities, or whose religious festivals are linked to the movement of the sun through the sky.

Seeing so many different people taking note of the Solstice and pointing it out - along with good wishes and salutations! - to others of myriad different religions and lack thereof really gives me hope that in the future, we can all celebrate the Solstice as a secular holiday as well as a religious one.

How cool would that be?

This is the holiday post, I suppose. And it's also nearly a year since I started this blog - the first post was way back in January 2011. Well, OK, to be honest it's nearly 11 months since I started the blog, as I started it at the end of January, but nevertheless as 2011 comes to a close one becomes contemplative about the past year.

It does feel like it has been a long time. I'd never blogged regularly before when I started, though I'd tried, so I'm glad it's come this far. I think I owe the "30 Days of Paganism" meme a debt of gratitude for giving me something to post on those occasions when I couldn't think of much of anything to write.

And I'd especially like to thank all of you for not only reading but linking to the blog on StumbleUpon, Twitter and Tumblr. It's because of all of you guys that Hagstone reached 3000 views this month, and I really, really appreciate it.

The Solstice is tomorrow. Summer for me, Winter for many of you, so many happy returns to those who are celebrating religiously at this time of year, and many happy returns for any secular holidays you all may be celebrating as well. I, for my part, will be picking some flowers tomorrow for my altar and celebrating the longest day with some nice fruits, some nice wine, and a ritual I will probably make up as I go along. My secular Eksmas will be celebrated with family and good food, and my Nordic Midsummer I will stretch out to a few days, with a formal blót, oh, probably on the 22nd, but perhaps a day or two later. It is a busy time of year after all.

Joyous Holidays!

Summer and Eksmas

In the Southern Hemisphere, as you doubtless know (unless you are the victim of an unfortunate education system), the seasons are the opposite to those in the Northern Hemisphere. I am a Colonial, insofar as I live in a post-colonial country that was once a part of the British Empire and is now a part of the Commonwealth. As such, my ancestors brought their cultural traditions with them from Britain and Ireland to the new Promised Land of New Zealand.

Meaning? Well, it means religious and cultural secular holidays that are associated with particular dates - Easter and Christmas primarily, but Halloween also - are no longer matched up with the seasons. Traditional decorations remain largely the same: holly and snow around Christmas (although, pleasingly, the sun and the pohutukawa are gaining ground here), pumpkins around Halloween, pastel colours around Easter. People sing "Jingle Bells" as if it had a damn thing to do with Christmas. It's annoying, and frustrating, and sometimes I dream of moving somewhere nice like Scotland where the sun doesn't spend four months of the year trying to kill you and cultural holidays are more in line with my religious ones. It's weird celebrating the Summer Solstice when everyone is pissing around saying "Happy Yule!"

I actually love celebrating secular Eksmas* in summer. It's a unique sort of thing. Everybody gets about four weeks off, and spends the whole time lying around wearing very little and drinking gin and tonics or sparkling wine with strawberries in it. People play beach cricket, the entire world seems to relax the fuck out, and the world is pleasant. I even feel this way despite not particularly liking summer. It is fucking awesome, and everyone in the Northern Hemisphere should come down and try it at least once in their lives.

So where does that leave me? Yule on one end of the year, Midsummer on the other, and here I am with my major religious focus at the opposite end to everyone else's major family focus holiday. The eating and drinking and giving of gifts happens in December, not June the way I feel it should, and I celebrate my Yuletide essentially alone. In the future, if I find myself a nice little Kindred or a partner with similar religious leanings, this may change. But for now, well, I am going to respond to my family and community. Midsummer was, for our Heathen ancestors, still a big holiday. There were Things, and Maypoles, and happy enjoyment. There's no reason really I can't marry that with the secular Eksmas of my country.

Too long have I vaguely overlooked Midsummer in my Heathen practice. I've held blót every year, of course, usually to Tyr and sometimes Sunna also. This year, I plan to incorporate more of how summer is celebrated (consciously or not) in my country into my own religious summer celebrations. I'm going to extend my Midsummer for a few days, and incorporate Eksmas into it. It will be strange, but to many people how Eksmas works here would be strange anyway, so there we are. I am a bit of a come-as-you-are Pagan, so this little experiment will develop as I go along, and of course in no way will Midsummer become as important to me as Yule has always been, but nevertheless I am excited to incorporate things a little more each way.

Now, back to Eksmas shopping.


*My reason for "Eksmas" is twofold. Firstly, I watch too much Futurama, and have acquired their pronunciation of Xmas. I am well aware that "X" stands in for the Greek "Chi" and is an initial of Christ, hence Xmas, Xian and so on. Second, I am aware also that the secular holiday of Christmas and the religious holiday of Christmas, while occurring at the same time of year and sharing many symbols, are nevertheless not the same holiday. Out of respect therefore for our Christian friends, I would not want to call this holiday "Christmas" or "Xmas", and so, Eksmas. I hope my reasoning for this is clear and offends as few people as possible.

Day Eight: Holidays

Time for another "30 Days of Paganism" entry!

I celebrate the eight general spokes of the generic "Wheel of the Year". And I celebrate them all twice. That makes sixteen major celebrations, with another handful on top of that specific to Heathenry.

Most Heathens don't celebrate that many, I don't think, but I love holidays and I love the sort of sense of community, almost, from celebrating with my gods. On top of that, my Heathen holidays tend to be more human-oriented than my Hedgewitch ones, which are more world-around-me- and celestial-oriented. My Heathen holidays are celebrated either on traditional dates or are dependant on the weather, while my Hedgewitch holidays are wholly astronomical. I do occasionally refer to my Craft-related holidays as "sabbats", though I never meet anyone (living), and though they may have little to do with what other Pagan witches are celebrating.

So, starting with Yule, which is the major holiday in Heathenry. I start of with Mother Night on the night before Yule proper, which is usually the 20th of June. Yuletide stretches for 12 days, though I don't always hold blots on all, or most, of those days. Still, it's a time for battening down hatches. Oðinn is honoured primarily, but because the holiday is so long you can honour whomever you please.
I for my Hedgecraft, I celebrate the Solstice on the proper day, and if possible at the proper hour and minute. I refer to it as the Winter Solstice or Midwinter. I honour my Lord primarily but my Lady plays a role here too, one I am discovering further each year.

Next is a Heathen holiday, Thorrablot. One honours Thor for keeping us safe and whole in the cold part of the year. This is a favourite holiday of mine, a favourite I think of many Heathens, because it leaves you feeling particularly warm and safe. This sort of renews the bonds between you and Thor. It's wonderful.

Next comes Charming of the Plough/Idis-thing. I don't own a plough, so don't actually charm it. I also don't live near any farms, and it's not cold enough here for the ground to freeze. So, I focus my celebration primarily on Freyr and Freyja, and the Disir, and on spring itself. I tend to celebrate when I first smell spring in the air, which may be a little before or a little after the astronomical date.
I celebrate Candlemas as the beginning of spring proper, as close to the astronomical date as possible but I may delay it slightly if spring hasn't come yet. I use the Catholic name as I'm not comfortable with the word "Imbolc" just generally. I don't know how to properly pronounce it and it doesn't mean anything to me. Though this year I started referring to it as "Spring-tide" as well. This is a gentle sort of time, and it is cold though the flowers are beginning to arrive on blossom trees and with daffodils.

Next is the Vernal Equinox. Some years I'll hold a Hellenic ritual for Persephone too, as I'm fond of her and this is a time I strongly associate with her. The Equinox proper I celebrate at the proper time. Equinoxes are a time of balance for me and so I try to get it at the exact minute if possible. There is a switch-over from dark-time to light-time and I'm trying to represent that more properly in my rituals in recent years. My Lord and Lady don't have separate times of the year dedicated to Them, like spring/autumn or winter/summer, but there are particular holidays that stress one of Them more than the Other. This isn't really one of them.
Ostara is at this time of year although I don't tend to use that name. I associate the deity Bede mentioned with Iðunna as it makes sense to me. This is a youthful time, and Iðunna's apples give youth to the gods. I find parallels between Iðunna's primary myth - of being stolen and returned - and the wheel of the year (things growing old, then youth returning). So I honour her on this holiday. But I must admit I'm not particularly close to Iðunna. I may begin honouring other deities or ancestors as well, perhaps Handmaidens of Frigg.

Next comes the beginning of summer. I hold Walpurgisnacht on the night before May Day. It's a time to focus on death and those who have passed away, which seems odd at this time of year, but honouring and respecting death the night before means one can focus fully on life and joy the next day. I like that. I honour Hel, and sometimes Frigg and Freyja as well.
May Day of course is not in May for me, but I haven't found a name I like better yet. Summernights, maybe, as an opposite to Winternights. It is a time of wild abandon. One honours Freyr and Freyja. What's odd is that I'm not even particularly close to these two gods (though our relationship is growing), but they tend to get top billing in a lot of holidays. It's weird. At any rate it's a time of strawberries.
The astronomical date tends to fall a few days later. I refer to it as Beltaine, which perhaps I shouldn't as it has nothing much to do with the Irish holiday as far as I know. I have trouble letting go of the name, though. Hopefully a new one will occur to me as the holiday approaches. More love, more sex, and a welcoming in of summer. Early summer is a fantastic time: it's not yet hot, but pleasantly warm. Blue skies are a novelty, things are green, rich and bright and everything is simply joyful at the arrival of the coming growing season. It's one of my favourite holidays for this reason.

Next up is Midsummer. I use this word for my Heathen holiday as well - "Litha" is apparently an option but I don't like that name. It's a strange holiday for me as far as whom I honour goes. Others like to honour Baldur, which I feel I shouldn't really do as it's my fulltrui's fault he's where he is. I honour Sunna in part, though she seems so far away. When things are a bit open, I tend to go for someone who kind of fits, and whom I don't get to honour much. So Tyr, on this date, because I respect and like him a great deal and because apparently Things were held on this date.
Summer Solstice I try to hold at the proper time. Summer is a very lazy time, for me, for the world around me and for my country in particular as everyone gets about four weeks off at this time of year, and those who take their holidays at other times get four days of stat holidays. The entire country acts like they're stoned and laxxed out for at least two weeks. Everyone walks around half-dressed and barefoot in the sun. It's fab. Food is plentiful, it's too warm to want to do anything but not yet the horrible heat of late summer, there's still enough moisture everywhere and everything just sort of lies there. Animals, birds, plants. Because the sun is at its apex I honour the Lord primarily on this day, though my Lady gets Her due. It's also the time when days stop getting longer and start getting shorter, which is something I focus on.

Next holiday is Lammas. Loaf-mass, that is. I always feel the desire to bake bread, though I don't bake as a rule and wouldn't know how to make bread in particular. So I pop some of those dinner rolls in the oven that come half-baked from the supermarket and need about five minutes to finish baking. So they smell fantastic and are warm and good.
I celebrate my Heathen holiday as Freyfaxi. It tends to be earlier than Lammas proper. As a date that's traditionally connected to the harvest I honour Freyr (plus it has his name in it), but also Thor and Sif. Thor's lightning keeps the soil fertile and Sif is connected to the harvest with the myth about her hair being cut and replaced. (By Loki. Looking at it, we may have him to thank for seasons at all! ha.) As a date when I get a chance to connect with Sif, whom I quite like, I enjoy this holiday.
Lammas proper brings my Hedgecraft closer to the hearth, as a Craft holiday that I connect with home as well as with the world around me and celestial bodies. The baking, and so on. It's also a time when it's getting very hot. After the growing season, everything is tired and parched and ready for the autumn. I celebrate the arrival of autumn and the passing of summer, which at this point I am totally over.

Next up, Autumnal Equinox. This actually tends to come first on my calendar, before the Heathen holiday. I love autumn particularly. The same equinox deals apply as to spring, and I swap my gold altar candle for my black one. Nights are now longer than days, with all that implies.
Winter-finding is particularly connected to the weather. While some holidays depend on the smell of the coming season in the air, Winter-finding falls on the first cold day after the Equinox. I honour Oðinn, as a god of winter and of wisdom, and of the coming cold weather.

Then there's Lokablot, which is rare in the Heathen world and falls on April 1st. It's one of those precious rare holidays that's on the same date in the Southern as it is in the Northern hemisphere, and appears to be the Official Unofficial date for honouring Loki. Lokeans the world over have decided this apparently independent of one another. I drink to Loki on this date, usually shots of something like Cointreau. In its own way it's like a "new year" for me, a touchstone, and I value it highly.

Winternights comes next. The traditional date would be about May 1st but if I don't smell winter in the air or it doesn't feel right I'll delay it. I think it's one of the rarer Heathen holidays, as far as number of people holding it goes, but I like it as another opportunity to honour Hel and the ancestors.
Samhain is one of those holidays I had great trouble bringing myself to rename. I have a couple of ideas that I implemented this year: Old Year's Night and Nox Umbrarum (night of shadows). It's the date I bound myself to my path, whatever it might be, so it's an anniversary for myself in that sense. It's also one of my favourite sabbat of mine and a day I honour death and the dead. This year I stretched it out to two days, in order to honour the dead in their own right on the first day and the Gods on the second.

And then comes Yule again.....