Longest night

Imagine, it's cold, so very, very cold that the animals have all hidden away in their dens.  The grass and plants are hidden under a deep blanket of snow and ice, and the rivers and springs have frozen solid.

You wake up at the usual time, your survival depends on your internal clock and it tells you that it is morning.  Outside it is still dark, there is no sound, there is no movement, only pitch black darkness that seems endless.  All around you your friends and relatives are sitting quietly, almost as if they are frightened of  breaking the profound silence.

As you wait for the sun to peek over the hill, you are frightened by a sound far off to the west.  Almost a scream combined with a rasping hiss, the sound echoes around you causing the women to hold their children a little closer, the elders to wrap their blankets a little tighter to their trembling shoulders.  It is the Wendigo, circling the village in search of one unlucky enough to be outside on this, the longest night of the year.  Surely the sun will return, frightening away the evil spirits of the cold, dark night.

Slowly the sky begins to lighten and the horrible hiss fades away.  Venturing outside in the early dawn, your eyes fall upon the bloody footprints that circle the entire village.  The return of Grandfather Sun has once again saved your loved ones from certain death.

Stories like this one that relay a fear of the cold and dark, were repeated across the world.  Perhaps it wasn't a creature of cold, perhaps it was a jaguar of enormous size, or a crocodile that could swallow a man whole.  Whatever the main character, the story line always included fear, not of the dark, but of what resided in the dark.

For the Northern Hemisphere, Winter Solstice was, and is, a reassurance that the Sun, with his life giving heat and light, was returning to smile  upon  his children again.  Even though we, the modern world, realize that Solstice is actually the first day of winter, for the Native peoples worldwide shortest day was, and is, a time for celebration.

Although tonight would be long, tomorrow would possess a little more light.   This is a time of promise, or renewal.

And so it is today.  We know that tomorrow will be a little brighter, and tomorrow night a little shorter.  Of course we know now that it is simply because of the tilting of the Earth on its axis as it spins in space.  The sun hasn't gone anywhere so it cannot return.  It is simply the way things are set up in this great, big universe.

Of course, knowing all of that doesn't really make a difference.  It doesn't take the magic out of this time of year, it doesn't make the day any longer or the night any shorter.  We are still filled with a  sense of anticipation that although Winter is just beginning, the days ARE longer, there IS more light.  We are heading toward Spring and the time of planting.

This feeling of anticipation is ingrained into our very souls.  Our bodies just KNOW.  Now, you could say it has to do with the gravitational pull or the lack of sunlight or even the fact that the calender says the New Year is just around the corner.  But in your soul, you know better.

This is a time of celebration, and a time for dreaming.  It is when our bodies and souls prepare themselves for the Winter that is still here and the Spring that is approaching so quickly.

So, whether you say it is Grandfather Sun, or  the Holly King your soul knows this is the time of renewal.

Tonight, when you lay down to sleep, allow your soul to dream.  Allow the future to dance though your mind, with the visions and promises of a new day at the end of a long, cold night.

Blessed Solstice everyone.