Cyrenaic

Cyrenaic

Sunday, December 20, 2020

Another Winter Solstice celebration- 2020

 By SJ Otto

Year after year I celebrate the Christmas Holidays. Since I am not a Christian, I prefer to celebrate the Winter Solstice. That event falls on December 21, this year which is  four days before the official holiday of Christmas. Since most of the traditions—mistletoe, a Santa figure, gifts, an indoor tree and the whole bit, the Solstice was a day of celebration for many cultures and pre-Christian religions. I could celebrate Saturnalia, but that is a religious holiday and I don’t belong to that religion.

 


In my earlier readings about Druids, Douglas Monroe, in The Lost Books of Merlyn, wrote about meads that the early Druids made, with juniper berries. Since I read that book, much of it has been denounced as inaccurate or even fake. I still refer to the book anyway. After all, juniper berries taste like Christmas trees. So I make Martinis since they are made mostly of Gin. I also like a good red wine, whether it fits in with tradition or not.

 


I also like to put out a sprig of an evergreen tree of some type to decorate my food or snack.

 


Let’s not forget the out door decorations.


And we have our fake tree,




And nothing makes a holiday like a good holiday song. Here is one of my favorites of this time of year:


“Ring Out, Solstice Bells”- Jethro Tull



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