Joyous Solstice!

May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world,
with joy that long endures.
May all life's passing seasons
bring the best to you and yours!


It took us a few years to get our celebrations of the Solstice worked out into ways that work for well for us but we've finally found/worked out traditions that fit our family. If you're searching for some traditions for your Solstice holiday for yourself or family, maybe these will help provide ideas/inspiration. This is what we do:

Sun Chains

This is an activity that we started back at the last weekend before school started. Technically not the end of summer but it's still a good point of reference for change coming. We took yellow and a bit of orange construction paper and cut them into strips. We then decorated the strips with sun stickers and gold glitter and made them into linked chains. I put them away until Nov. 1st (the day after Samhain), when we put them up. It's a way of reminding us of the sun, of the light, of summer days/warmth during times when it gets dark so early. They come down tomorrow, since, well, Solstice = return of the sun & the days get longer and all that. The sun chain project idea came from this book: Celebrating the Great Mother: A Handbook of Earth-Honoring Activities for Parents and Children.

Bring the Light

The above is the name of the...campaign (for lack of a better term)...that we do on Solstice. As I'm sure everyone reading knows--in very short--Solstice was A Big Deal because of the coming back of the sun, sun = light = warmth = growing food = better times (hopefully). So our day of giving is "bringing" "the light" to others. We go out and physically take food to the little local animal shelter and visit with the animals, we take food to the food bank (when the kids are older, we will all work in the bank sorting food). We make bird feeders for the wild birds and go out into the small woods at the end of our neighborhood to hang them.

Yule Log ritual

For this, I make a cake yule log. Oh, it's not fancy Bûche de Noël style, it's usually fairly simple. In past years I've made the sort that are pumpkin with cream cheese filling. This year it's chocolate with homemade buttercream. Anyway, in the evening after dinner, we clear the plates away and bring it out to the center of the table. We do a brief talk about the Solstice and the long dark and what the importance of the return of the sun meant for people and the symbolism in light, etc... We turn out the lights, light three candles in the log, and we all hold hands. Then, going around the table, each of us expresses a wish for ourselves, our family, and our world. After the last person is done speaking, we blow out the candles and sit in the darkness for a few moments. Then we throw on the lights, start music, and each eat a slice of the yule log together at the table.