Solstice!

Tomorrow is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year for us’ns north of the equator.

I wanna get my happy pagan on and do this day up good. After all, tomorrow marks the point when daylight begins to come back, Baby, come back. Yeah sure, we gotta get through the dark, frozen months of January and February but the sun’s comin’ home!

How to celebrate though? I understand that, in Northern Europe's way early days, winter was traditionally a mega lean time for livestock. Most cattle were slaughtered as they’d otherwise starve. Harsh! Solstice was a carnivore’s dream.

Solstice is also one of the nights of the Wild Hunt.

In the Germanic tradition it is the Nordic god Odin, also known as Wotan, who leads the Wild Hunt on his eight-legged horse, Sleipnir, followed by the Valkyries and the ghosts of dead heroes riding their horses with black hounds baying at their feet and hunting horns blowing. (source)

Wilde Jagd - Johann Cordes

What are they hunting? Not certain but I want to steer well clear.

How’s a peace loving vegetarian supposed kick up her heels?

I could have a rousing Saturnalia knees-up!

In ancient Rome, the winter solstice was celebrated at the Feast of Saturnalia, to honor Saturn, the god of agricultural bounty. Lasting about a week, Saturnalia was characterized by feasting, debauchery and gift-giving.  (source)

Debauchery – yeah, I can totally get behind that.

Meanwhile up U.K. way, Stonehenge is big business, especially at solstice times. They feature a formal winter solstice tour where you can:

• Enter the inner circle of Stonehenge at Sunrise
• Witness the Druidic ceremony and Pagan Celebrations
• Visit Salisbury Cathedral and medieval City
• See Old Sarum Hill Fort

All for $132.67 American, €112.01 or £99.

Thousands of neo-Druids and neo-Pagans are expected to converge on Stonehenge to dance, sing and do whatever else feels appropriate for honoring this spinning orb we live on. Sounds grand but I’m not big on crowds while waiting to see the, hopefully, spectacular solstice sunrise. Also too, bus tours? No thanks.

Image by jaguarrshark

Are there solstice parties up in my beloved Orkney Islands? Do folks rock out with their naughty bits out at the Ring of Brodgar on solstice? I wanna know. Yes, I’m thinking I DEF wanna go there for the celebrations one year soon. Next year? My pal Google tells me that Spiritual Orkney does a calmer, not tour coach-y kind of a solstice thing and it's free. (I like free) Still ya gotta make the journey up the country and over the sound to the Orkney mainland. It’s a relatively long trip from Glasgow to Stromness BUT it’s so worth the voyage.

Tomorrow’s sunrise there will be at 9:06 AM. The sun sets at 3:16 PM. I’ve been there in springtime when, between dawn's infant glow and the post-sunset last dregs of light, there was practically 20 hours of day. Never been there in the dark winter months. I look forward to it.

Happening all over tommorow, the universe is gonna kick up its heels with a solstice meteor shower. 

The Ursid meteor shower will peak sometime after midnight on the morning of Dec. 22, during which viewers should be able to catch five to 10 meteors per hour. (source)

Another good way to celebrate – watch the sky.