Growing up, I was raised Catholic, so I always celebrated Christmas. My family and I went to Christmas Eve mass at ten o’clock at night, because West Bend churches didn’t have a midnight mass and ten o’clock was the closest we could get. I can remember the crowded pews and sometimes even having to stand or sit in the gym and listen to the piped sermon. Then we’d get to go home and open one present then off to bed. Christmas morning, we’d open the rest of the presents and make a big breakfast, then head to my uncle’s house for more presents, family time, and a gigantic Christmas feast. I still do that now that I’m married, juggling what seems like a million different sides. But there’s something else different about me: I don’t identify as Catholic anymore. I am Wiccan.
Don’t get me wrong, I still believe in Jesus and Christmas is still one of my favorite holidays. I celebrate it with my family and respect their traditions. I’ve just added a few of my own Wiccan traditions onto it and a few goddesses and gods to the mixture.
I celebrate the winter solstice, also known as Yule. This year it will be on December 21. All this month I have been preparing my apartment and myself for the turn of the wheel and the return of the sun. Yule is when they days start to get longer again and we’ll soon be getting ready for another planting season. Soon we’ll be hearing the voices of the birds, welcoming in Spring. It may seem like Winter is only just beginning, but now the now the Sun is returning to us and the days will become longer.
The first thing my husband and I do to prepare for Yule is what we call “Winter Cleaning.” We clean the apartment, getting rid of things we don’t need. Our old clothes are donated to Good Will. Then we rid ourselves of attitudes and thoughts that longer serve us in our daily lives and welcome in the new. I then smudge the apartment by burning white sage to cleanse out any negative energies.
Next we put up the tree. Yes, it’s very much like the Christmas tree. It has lights and ornaments on it. All the ornaments symbolize something to both of us such as places we’ve been, sports teams we like, hobbies we’re into, the like. I then perform a blessing with water, fire, salt (to represent earth), and incense (to represent air). Normally Wiccans would use real trees, but as my apartment doesn’t allow real trees, my husband and I have an artificial tree. We try to bring in elements of nature by having a pine branch or two above our front door and pine cones on my alter. These symbolize how Mother Earth still gives us beauty even in the death of Winter.
Our final preparation is putting up the lights on our porch and in the apartment (I really love lights). In the Wiccan tradition, putting up lights and burning candles symbolizes the coming of the Sun, longer days, and the coming of the growing season. Winter is a time of rest in preparation for the next year’s productivity of the harvest. The Sun is warming the Earth, preparing her for a bountiful yield.
This year, my husband and I will be attending our first Yule ritual with a local Pagan group in Madison area. There will be workshops to make ornaments and decorations for the home, teaching of lore and how certain traditions came to be, a huge potluck feast, and a grand celebration to welcome the Sun. My husband and I will also hold our own private Yule ritual on the twenty-first which will feature a candle lit feast, a prayer to welcome the Sun, and then all the lights will be turned on as we welcome the turning of the wheel and the longer days. We’ll have twelve days of devotionals and merry making.
Yes, one of those days will be Christmas where we celebrate with family in the way I mentioned above. I can’t wait to give the gifts I’ve bought for everyone, and to me, that’s what it’s all about: giving and love. Yule, we celebrate our accomplishments and what we’ve yielded over the year. We work hard for what we’ve been given and the chance to share that with family and friends makes it all the better. I love the look on the faces of my family as they open their presents and see what each box holds. Personally, I don’t want anything this year or the coming years but to see the happiness and joy on my family and friend’s face. This season, these holidays, they are about love. Let the love shine.