Religious Education Update: December 9, 2007
Religious Education Update
The Winter Solstice
Imagine living in Sweden hundreds of years ago, around the time of the winter solstice. Living so far north, the land would be very cold, and your family would huddle around a fire, trying to keep warm. If the harvest had been poor that year, you’d be hungry and weak. As you shivered, you’d think about the evil spirits that roamed the earth on the shortest days. You might perform a special ritual to try to keep your family safe.
You might also tell a legend about a young girl dressed in white, with a crown of candles in her hair, bringing food and drink to Sweden’s starving people. The young girl in the legend was known as St. Lucia, as “Lucia” means light. You’d believe that on St. Lucia’s Day, the evil spirits’ spell over the sun would be broken, and light and warmth would begin to return to the land.
Long ago, the winter solstice had great religious significance. People in Northern Europe built huge bonfires to celebrate the sun’s return. Other ancient people practiced animal sacrifice to appease the gods. In the British Isles, people built great stone circles, such a Stonehenge, to track the sun’s southern trek across in the sky. In our hemisphere, the Hopis had slots in the walls of their Kivas to mark the changing location of the sun.
Today, with our understanding of the earth’s rotation around the sun and the resulting seasons, we approach the Winter Solstice with less fear. We don’t believe in evil spirits roaming the earth, threatening to punish disobedient children. We have certain faith that the sun will return. Yet, even so, many of us experience sadness or gloominess on dreary, rainy days with early sunsets. The festivals of light, whether we celebrate them as Hannukah or Christmas or the Winter Solstice itself, serve to bring hope, warmth and light into our cold December nights.
We will be preparing for next week’s Santa Lucia’s pageant in RE today. Next week’s Winter Solstice service and Drum Circle are not to be missed!
Marlene Abel
Director of Religious Education
The Winter Solstice
Imagine living in Sweden hundreds of years ago, around the time of the winter solstice. Living so far north, the land would be very cold, and your family would huddle around a fire, trying to keep warm. If the harvest had been poor that year, you’d be hungry and weak. As you shivered, you’d think about the evil spirits that roamed the earth on the shortest days. You might perform a special ritual to try to keep your family safe.
You might also tell a legend about a young girl dressed in white, with a crown of candles in her hair, bringing food and drink to Sweden’s starving people. The young girl in the legend was known as St. Lucia, as “Lucia” means light. You’d believe that on St. Lucia’s Day, the evil spirits’ spell over the sun would be broken, and light and warmth would begin to return to the land.
Long ago, the winter solstice had great religious significance. People in Northern Europe built huge bonfires to celebrate the sun’s return. Other ancient people practiced animal sacrifice to appease the gods. In the British Isles, people built great stone circles, such a Stonehenge, to track the sun’s southern trek across in the sky. In our hemisphere, the Hopis had slots in the walls of their Kivas to mark the changing location of the sun.
Today, with our understanding of the earth’s rotation around the sun and the resulting seasons, we approach the Winter Solstice with less fear. We don’t believe in evil spirits roaming the earth, threatening to punish disobedient children. We have certain faith that the sun will return. Yet, even so, many of us experience sadness or gloominess on dreary, rainy days with early sunsets. The festivals of light, whether we celebrate them as Hannukah or Christmas or the Winter Solstice itself, serve to bring hope, warmth and light into our cold December nights.
We will be preparing for next week’s Santa Lucia’s pageant in RE today. Next week’s Winter Solstice service and Drum Circle are not to be missed!
Marlene Abel
Director of Religious Education
posted by Unitarian Universalists of Petaluma @ 10:12 PM
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