What do you do for winter solstice?

[entiti]

I'm wondering....
I really never have cared for Christmas, even when I was a kid. And I knew I always wanted to celebrate Winter Solstice, and the Earth and Seasons with my children. Well, dd is 21 months, now.....and I need some ideas and inspiration to celebrate! I would love a ritual, some fun crafts to do, and ways to make the house inspiring!

Any ideas,sites with ideas, or examples of what you do with your family would be sooooooooo helpful!

[philomom]

We do Soup and Solstice for our friends and neighbors on the 21st. No gifts. Just soup, bread, candlelight and sometimes a bonfire if there's not much rain. It is a great event that I "invented".

[meandk0610]

i need some ideas too. dd is 5 and we've been doing x-mas gifts due to extended family. i'm ready to say to heck with everyone else and do our own thing!

[Picard]

We hold a solstice dinner (and a xmas dinner). Two years ago, we built a big circle in the snow made from Christmas tree branches (the ones they discard at the Christmas tree sales outlets). Then we placed many candles in the snow/on top of the branches and lit them at the solstice. It looked pretty cool. Basically, the solstice is when our winter holiday/special time begins!

[rhianna813]

We do the Yule stuff.... evergreen tree with decorations, mistletoe, holly and other seasonal herbs. We celebrate that jolly ol elf Santa and his reindeer, with stockings.

We celebrate the Great Goddess giving birth to the Solar God. Usually through lighting candles and through putting a solar symbol atop the tree.

We sing songs, both traditional and pagan. And feast and give gifts. We belong to a large pagan community so we're usually involved in 1 -3 rituals/parties/potlucks. Plus the usual Christmas holiday invites from family.

Busy times!

Rhianna

[straighthaircurly]

Our celebration of solstice is still solidifying. We hve a solstice tree, which is a Norfolk pine in a pot, we build a frame around the lower bare trunk and then decorate with tinsel and lights and lots of handmade ornaments. We try to get outside cross country skiing if possible. We do exchange gifts. We have a big solstice dinner with just the 3 of us (since no one in our extended family celebrates solstice. I want to add some volunteer activities to it now that DS is old enough.

[zinemama]

We make a big cardboard figure of Old Man Winter, attached to a cardboard box stuffed with newspapers. We have a big party in the evening with lots of desserts and wine, and people bring intstruments and play.

At the height of the festivities, we all troop outside to the backyard, where we light Old Man Winter on fire. (A friend who plays accordian always plays "Burning Ring of Fire" at this point.)

The whole thing is a blast.

ETA: This is obviously not a spiritual celebration. But we do look at it as a fun way to mark the "death" of winter.

[Perpetunia]

Last year we celebrated winter solstice by embracing the dark - unscrewed all the lightbulbs and used only candles, a fire in the fireplace, etc for light. My son was 2.5 and he had a couple battery operated lanterns to walk around with (didn't trust him with candles). We all loved it and though we planned to do it for one day we ended up doing it three days. We tried to think of something similar for summer solstice but never really came up with the right thing, and we had a baby due so it was low priority.

[whoami]

We have never celebrated the solstice before so this will be our first. I've been reading this thread trying to gather ideas. I am liking the idea of waking early to watch the sunrise, and lighting candles, using flashlights and read stories about the return of the sun. I'm unclear if these are done on the same day though? Do people wake up early and then go to bed late, or stay up all night and then watch sunrise?

[meandk0610]

deleted. learning new buttons.

[meandk0610]

Originally Posted by rhianna813 

We do the Yule stuff.... evergreen tree with decorations, mistletoe, holly and other seasonal herbs. We celebrate that jolly ol elf Santa and his reindeer, with stockings.

We celebrate the Great Goddess giving birth to the Solar God. Usually through lighting candles and through putting a solar symbol atop the tree.

We sing songs, both traditional and pagan. And feast and give gifts. We belong to a large pagan community so we're usually involved in 1 -3 rituals/parties/potlucks. Plus the usual Christmas holiday invites from family.

Busy times!

Rhianna

where did you get your tree topper?

[Imogen]

I'm itching to put my tree up NOW.  Is it too early do you think? 

[meandk0610]

Originally Posted by Imogen 

I'm itching to put my tree up NOW.  Is it too early do you think? 

i say have at it and post pics!

[rhianna813]

Solar tree topper is a white ceramic tile of a sun - we bought at a craft store. We kinda wire it to the top of the tree. Someting could also be made using cardboard, paper mache or salt dough - then painted in gold. Or even a red/orange/yellow yarn God's eye!

Rhianna

[entiti]

That sounds so pretty.

Lots to think about..............................

[CCJWGM]

I saw this http://maymomvt.blogspot.com/2008/11/spiraling-in.html linked on Parenting Passageway and love it.  I will be making it tomorrow and will spiraling in and lighting the candle on the solstice. 

I also am putting up a pagan advent wreath which I also have yet to make.  We got our solstice tree today and gathered a lot of pine boughs in the process for this.  I am currently unsure if we are going to use the Waldorf verse or the verses found http://www.kidsnkin.dragondreaming.com/?q=node/40

For those unfamiliar with the standard Waldorf verse it is below.  Not christian at all so quite usable for my family

The first light of Advent is the light of stone--.
Stones that live in crystals, seashells, and bones.

The second light of Advent is the light of plants--
Plants that reach up to the sun and in the breezes dance.

The third light of Advent is the light of beasts--
All await the birth, from the greatest and in least.

The fourth light of Advent is the light of humankind--
The light of hope that we may learn to love and understand