Welcome Yule! Hail the Sun
Today, with the sunrise we passed through the longest night, and into the shortest day. As I write this, the sun has already set, and we have passed the tipping point of the wheel. While we will not see the days lengthening for a short while, it won’t be getting any darker, and soon there will be a noticeable difference.
It is always with some relief that we get to this point - it has been a dull grey winter and some days it feels that it has never really got properly light. I move through the day in grey gloom looking for breaks in the cloud to see some sunlight.
Today I spent some time in the garden between rain showers pulling weeds from the vegetable bed - my garden robin is always delighted to watch from a safe distance. Tonight I will be celebrating by lighting a log fire, having a delicious meal and continuing to listen the BBC dramatisation of Susan Cooper’s the Dark is Rising. Reading the book has long been a winter solstice tradition for me, and I was delighted a couple of years ago to find this quite excellent adaptation.
Susan Cooper also wrote my favourite piece of “Yule Liturgy” - the following poem, which I always read (often just to the dog) and share with friends and family.
Welcome Yule! Hail the Returning Sun! Solstice Blessings to you!
Shortest Day by Susan Cooper
So the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow‐white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us ‐ listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!