Wishing everyone the best of the festive season – no matter what it’s called at your house. In pagan traditions, the solstice is a time to put away the things of the old year and look forward to the new. One observance of the solstice involves extinguishing all the fires in your home before midnight on the eve of the solstice and lighting a new fire the next day. This probably won’t be quite as symbolic if you have central heating.
The winter solstice falls on December 21 – the word solstice means “sun stopping.” The winter solstice is the day on which the sun reaches as far south of the equator as it gets, and is as such the shortest and darkest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. The solstice marks the rebirth of light for the coming spring.
The winter solstice also marks, among other things, the druid festival of Alban Arthuan – a time for bestowing gifts upon those less fortunate than ourselves. Out of this observance has grown the more popular tradition of gift-giving, Black Friday, Super Saturday, maxed-out credit cards and 70% off sales. May the goddess be with you during this season – but don’t blame her if you get fruitcake again.
Those of you who are friends of Carlton and Bill Wilson – know about Carlton’s famous “little book”. I am sure that Carlton would have told me what to do with the little book if he had known just how near the end was. I have the book. And look at it on a regular basis. On the Dec 21 page he underlined “I can face anything if I am sure I am on the way” and the marginalia reads 2013-CANCER. He was having daily radiation last December 21. Now, Carlton was not a religious a person. Whatever the way is/was it worked for him. I believe, for him the way was AA. For me the way is not so well defined. Nevertheless, this Yule season, I will remember the modern pagan blessing
I am grateful for that which I have.
I am not sorrowful for that which I do not.
I have more than others, less than some,
I am blessed with what is mine.
hi,
this tradition about fire… interesting…
My central heating is programmed to stop between 09pm and 06am. So, I think I’m OK 🙂
Talking about gifts and cameras: this year, Santa Claus will bring me a Sony RX-100 (the first one). Last year I resist, but this year, its price fall under a psychological value. Same price as I bought the ZS3. And my ZS3 have a little problem: the zoom command is not working well. (not a big problem to be honest).
I really like small cameras. My only complaint about ZS3 was low light bad performance. (in museums, churches, or in family…) but it was a nice companion. I will keep it as spare (even if we don’t need a spare).
Have a nice day.
Laurent
I hope the RX-100 is as good as it is reported to be. I know what you mean about liking small cameras. I find myself using a body cap lens on my new Olympus so it will be as tiny as possible. My ZS3 has a chunk of dust lodged in it – but I am not letting it go.