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Celebrating The Solstice of a Coming Long Winter

Celebrating The Solstice of a Coming Long Winter

Last updated on: December 18, 2024 at 3:00 am by John Beckett

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Celebrating The Solstice of a Coming Long Winter 2024-12-14T16:12:29-06:00 John Beckett

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In the Game of Thrones universe, seasons are of indefinite length and winters can last for years. Author George R.R. Martin has suggested that these highly variable seasons are due at least in part to magic and not to science, but he’s yet to explain exactly how it all works.

In our world, seasons are caused by the axial tilt of the Earth and the Earth’s revolution around the Sun. They can be measured and predicted with great precision. The weather in any given place varies from year to year – and the climate is changing – but we know that while winter will arrive on December 21 at 3:20 AM CST (this year – dates and times change slightly from year to year), spring will be here three months later, on March 20 at 4:01 AM CDT. Our astronomical winter begins this Saturday and we know exactly how long it will last.

But a metaphorical winter begins on January 20, and we have no idea how cold it will get or how long it will last.

The Winter Solstice is humanity’s oldest holy day. We mark the longest night and celebrate the rebirth of the Sun, knowing that the longer days will eventually bring warmer weather and a renewal of life, even though the worst of winter is yet to come.

At its core, the Winter Solstice is a celebration of hope.

How do we celebrate hope at the solstice of this coming long winter?

Winter is coming – do something

The words of House Stark are “winter is coming.” They serve as a reminder that no matter how long, pleasant, and secure a summer may be, sooner or later it will end. So prepare for winter now.

Hopefully you’ve been doing that. We all knew this or something like it could happen. And let’s face it: while the past four years have been substantially better than the four years before them, they haven’t exactly been high summer – especially for those of us who live in red states.

If you haven’t prepared – physically, financially, emotionally, spiritually – you still have a little time. For good or for ill, political change doesn’t happen all at once. Except when it does.

Doing something – anything – is better than doing nothing. Doing something exercises your agency and reminds you that you’re not powerless, no matter the circumstances.

Forget about what you can’t do. None of us can make Donald Trump not be President, and few of us can move out of the country. But all of us can do something to minimize his impact on our lives.

And doing what we can do is worth celebrating.

Celebrations are best with others

The stories of how our ancestors marked and celebrated the Winter Solstice always begin with “they gathered.” They gathered to light candles and fires, to share food and drink, to tell stories, to honor their Gods and ancestors, to do divination.

They gathered.

Despite being about seven years behind on the Marvel Universe movies and shows, I really enjoyed Agatha All Along. My favorite episode was the one where Lilia met with her mentor, who asked “are you rooted in nature? Are you nimble in your craft? Do you have a coven? What do you see?”

Who’s your coven?

You don’t have to have an oathbound coven with your own book of shadows. You do need a small handful of people who can help with your magic and with your mundane life, who will be there for you – and who you’ll be there for in return.

Other people are complicated and messy. Too many of us are afraid someone will tell us we’re “doing it wrong.” We’ve been hurt in other groups.

And none of that changes the fact that we’re not going to get through this coming long winter alone. Or at least, getting through it alone is going to be a lot more difficult and much less likely to succeed.

This Solstice, celebrate with others – even if you have to organize and host the celebration yourself.

We’ve seen this winter before

I don’t know how anyone who lived in the United States from 2017 through 2021 and saw how chaotically and destructively Donald Trump governed could vote for him again. No, I do know – they like chaos and destruction and they want more. And now they’ve got it.

That said, who the President is doesn’t completely control our lives. 2017 and 2018 were very good years for me, because I and those closest to me made them so. 2019 was not so good, and 2020 was awful for everyone. The worst of Trump’s doings (his three Supreme Court nominations helping to overturn Roe v. Wade) didn’t become reality until he had been out of office for almost a year and a half.

This time his team is better organized. For all that Trump disavowed Project 2025, he’s talking a lot about stuff that’s in it, and nominating people who worked on it for powerful offices. “Ignore him and live your life” is still a good plan, but it’s going to be harder this time than it was last time.

And some people who made it through last time won’t make it through this time, particularly the most vulnerable among us.

Still, we have seen this particular flavor of winter before. And we saw it end (if barely).

This coming long winter will end too.

Spring always follows winter

Even in Westeros, spring eventually follows winter. It may take years – according to the lore George R.R. Martin wove into his novels, one winter lasted an entire generation. But eventually, spring came.

One day the winter we’re about to begin will come to an end. Perhaps things will start to thaw after the 2026 midterm elections. Perhaps spring will come in 2028. Or perhaps the winter will continue, either because people continue to vote for the empty promises of MAGA under a different leader, or because Trump manages to carry through with his threat to “terminate” the Constitution (to be clear – I think the odds on that happening are incredibly small. But I’ve been wrong about so much about Trump I’m not exactly confident in my projection).

Regardless of how long this winter turns out to be, someday spring will come.

And when it does, we will have to remember that the arrival of spring doesn’t mean all is well. The land in spring may be warm and green but the harvest won’t come until later in the year – until after the hard work of planting and tending is done.

But the celebration of the Winter Solstice is an act of hope, and we can be confident in our hope that whatever happens, it won’t last forever.

May your Solstice be merry and bright.

For Further Reading

Winter Solstice: Mourning the Dark, Celebrating the Light (2023)

The First Solstice: A Story That Never Was But Is Again (2021)

8 Things to do for Winter Solstice as a Solitary Pagan (2018)

Solstice Morning at Newgrange (2015)

Stonehenge: Imagining the Winter Solstice (2015)

Winter Solstice – A Solitary Ritual (2014)

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