20 December 2006

Cool Yule

Tomorrow is the shortest day of the year, celebrated as Yule in the old Celtic calendar.

This solstice was well known a long time before people developed instruments to measure this sort of thing. People were aware of it because they were aware of the changes in the seasons and the wider world around them. From tomorrow the days start getting lighter and the nights start getting shorter.

When the 'pagan' celebrations were taken over and lost by things like christmas, we lost.

I hope you can enjoy some sort of celebration tomorrow - have a cool yule!

I'll also wish you a happy new year, and all the best for 2007.

(Although actually the Celts celebrated new year at the Spring Equinox, 21st March, when the daylight becomes longer than the night. This is also the New Year in Iran, Afghanistan, and the Kurdish lands amongst other places, known as Newroz.)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Christians might have high-jacked yule, but I thing materialism has high-jacked it from the christians

Henry said...

That's certainly true, and the materialist/capitalist frenzy that currently takes place every year is certainly far worse.

I wasn't particularly having a go at christians here, just suggesting we had lost something that it was worth reflecting on...

At the end of the day, the main thing for ceremonial occasions is that they should be an opportunity to reflect.

Anonymous said...

Henry I didn't think that you were having a go at christians. I appreciate your integrity in the matter. If you are going to have a thread about Spirituality what about a discussion on story-telling in culture. Recently the PM said that the Nativity Story was the greatest story ever told. What do you think is the greatest story ever told? I was only anon last time because I didn't have a blogger account, but I now realise that I can click on other.