The Time Which Is Not Time - December Days

It is a cold day, going into a cold evening with a colder night to come. The last day of November was gloomy with dark, but somehow comforting snow clouds hanging in the gray sky. We're into Advent Season on the Christian Calender, the Solstice is fast approaching and the moon is nearly full. The urge to go to ground and hibernate is nearly overwhelming!

"Hiver"

"Winter Moon"

The Season of Advent

The Christian observance of Advent marks the beginning of the liturgical year in Protestant and Catholic Churches of the Western Tradition. Advent is a four week period of preparation and contemplation leading up to Christmas Day and the celebration of the Birth of Christ. The observance is currently celebrated widely in both Protestant and Catholic congregations and recognizes a special liturgy with the use of an Advent wreath and the lighting of candles each week until Christmas Eve when the season of Advent ends.

Advent calendars, which are popular the world over, are yet another Christmas custom which find their origins in Germany. The first printed calendars were made by Gerhard Lang who reproduced the kind of calendar his mother had made for him when he was a child. These early calendars had candles and sometimes candy, which could be removed daily as the days until Christmas were impatiently counted. Later calendars were printed with numbered windows which could be opened each day to reveal a new picture or symbol related to the season. The earliest calendars were produced in religious themes,

but following World War II calendars were produced which depicted secular themes and illustrations of the Christmas season.


Yule, Solstice and Ancient Traditions


Less than a week ago, my backyard and the surrounding countryside offered up a crisp, but temperate, sunny December day filled with small enchantments. The backyard bustled with the delightful antics of gray squirrels scampering about on the ground busily gathering up whatever it is that gray squirrels find to stuff into their cheeks. There were cotton-tail rabbits hopping about eating the still abundant green growth which covered the ground, and the bushes were full of brilliant red Cardinals eating berries just as red and brilliant as their own feathers. Later, as I rode across the sunny country-side, a herd of ten or twelve white tailed deer were working their way across the stubble of a just picked cornfield, nibbling on the left-behind ears of corn and fodder. True to the ancient rules of the harvest, what was left after the end of October belong ed to the Mother's children.

This morning, a scant four December days later, the wind rattles bushes and trees as it swirls falling snow, the ground has a substantial covering of white powder, and the sky is a uniform milky gray overcast which offers no immediate promise of sunshine

"Bunny Den"

The sudden change from the warm sunny days of post harvest, to the cold inhospitable winds of winter makes a person think of the ancient tribes of the great northern forests and what they must have felt when the short, dark days of winter finally enclosed them in their lodges and tents ... Many primitive northern hemisphere tribes (including American Indians) fashioned wreaths of evergreen to symbolize the eternal circle of the seasons, and the cyclical, eternal nature of life. A reminder that the earth would turn back to the season of light, and that time, even though it did not behave normally during the season of darkness, was still working to return light, warmth and springtime to the land. A promise of sorts, that even if the sun left, it would come again with the turn of the earth's wheel. In the Scandinavian countries of the very far north, the sun did completely disappear for many days. "Watchers" would be sent to catch the first glimpse of the return of the sun, and great fires would be lit to signal its rising. In some places, huge bundled wheels of branches were set afire and rolled down hills to herald the return of the sun. The tradition of a ring of fire existed among the Germanic tribes and candles were lit on wreaths to number the days until

the return of the light at Solstice and the celebration of Julfest. A person thinks especially of the tribes who lived in the tall dense forests of Northern Europe - forests so deep, dark and foreboding that they stopped even the advancing legions of the Roman Empire. What must it have been like to suddenly face the cold, mysterious darkness of unyielding winter in those endless forests? Were they truly frightening and inhospitable, or did they offer refuge and safety to those who knew and respected them? The solution for the ever darkening days of winter was to light fires, and enjoy celebratory feasting and dancing! Evergreen boughs, holly and mistletoe were used to decorate large dining halls and small cottages alike and served as "fire starters" to help light new fires. All of the sacred "evergreens" were believed to have eternal life and sending their spirit into the smoke would encourage the Sun to return to its appointed place in the sky. It is believed that the "Yule Tree" came into favor at this time as well. The Yule Log itself was burned to bring luck and good fortune to the house, and a small part of it would be saved to light next year's log. Embers from the Yule fire might be carried off to the fireplaces of each home to restart the new year's fire. The slaughter and preparation of a prize boar was another Yule custom which has continued into modern times, and is the basis for our tradition of "Christmas Ham." Conversion to Christianity came late to these proud and warlike Germanic peoples and it was far easier to superimpose a Christian reinterpretation for their seasonal feasts than to attempt to suppress them.

"Bringing in the Yule Log"

I have news for you;
The stag bells, winter snows, summer has gone.
Wind high and cold, the sun low, short its course
The sea running high.
Deep red the bracken, its shape is lost.
The wild goose has raised its accustomed cry,
Cold has seized the birds' wings.
Season of ice; this is my news.

9th Century Irish Poem