I read recently that the citrus trees that survive to old age, they die of overabundance. They break under a storm of fruits although not before gilding the air with the smell of their flowers. I know there are succulents that do the same, pouring the last of themselves into a single vivid bloom. All of this makes me think of how we, as a society, react to the slow death of each year. As fall begins to surrender ground to winter, we retreat inside, gathering to prepare for a myriad of coming festivals.
So many things are celebrated at the end of the year, so many rituals of remembrance and gratitude. We meet our dead in costumes as if to tell them, ‘we have not forgotten you and we will not forget that it will be our turn one day.’
But not yet.
Right now, we have the harvest. Right now, we have the fire and each other. We have the sweets we have made from the crops we have grown, the meat from the animals we raised. We have music. We have love. We are alive despite the cold and the long nights and the barren earth.
I love the Winter Solstice. It is the longest night of the year, but it is also the moment that the light begins its return. Minute by minute, the day will grow and the dark will retreat and before we know it, it will be spring again and then the drowsy summer.
Anyway.
Tell me how you’re celebrating the end of the year. What are your family rituals? What are the holidays you’re looking forward to? In exchange, I offer (as if I wasn’t going to do that already) a cat photo.
In my house we celebrate the Winter Solstice. Even though we live in the Arizona desert where you can still get a sunburn in the middle of the day, I've taught my kids to celebrate the year and all the harvests made, and to fortify ourselves against the coming months. It doesn't hit quite the same here in Phoenix where the coming months will "plummet" to the 60s in the day with a few freezing nights here and there, but my kids appreciate the way we celebrate that this night will be as dark as it gets, and that our survival means every night going forward is a little shorter.
We do a yule log and write down things we want to leave behind, then burn them in the fire to show we're moving on. There's strong drinks for the adults and punch for the kids, and we invite neighbors and friends to celebrate the year past and show our support for each other in the coming one.
My kids still get to celebrate Christmas as a secular holiday with all its capitalist trappings, but they look forward to our Solstice celebration every year as the reason for the season (and once they're a little older I'll let them know why I have a drink for Sol Invictus on December 25th).
Happy holiday season to you!