December 2, 2004
FEEDING THE SOLSTICE FIRES
By Donna Henes, Urban Shaman
The Winter Solstice is as dark as it gets. The sun is now at its nadir, the furthest southern limit of its range, its terminus. And there it seems to want to stay for a while. The sun is standing absolutely still. It has stopped retreating, and yet hasn't begun to return. Solstice, in Latin, means just that -- the sun stands still. For three days it remains motionless, riveted. Pausing, it hovers in pregnant hesitation before it gets back on track again; resting before it begins its annual return trip across the equator into the Northern Hemisphere for its homecoming. Back to us waiting here hoping.
With the recognition that the solar light in the sky makes it possible for there to be life on Earth, comes sincere response-ability. As the sun energizes our lives, so too, must we return energy skyward at the solstice when the Winter light is failing. As Mother Teresa counsels, "To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it." Now we must ask not what the sun can do for us, but rather, what we can do for the sun? It becomes imperative in fact, to do all that we can to entice, aid, abet and ensure the safe return of the sun to earth. Life depends on it.
Consequently, the most common theme of Winter Solstice ceremonies everywhere is the burning of fires to symbolically re-kindle the dwindling sun. People gather together to cheer on the ascendancy of the light -- the victory of the very forces of life. The Hindu Festival of Lights, Divali, comes about six weeks before the solstice. The story surrounding Divali is that Lord Rama, the hero of the Hindu epic, Ramayana, was sent into exile (read darkness), but he redeems himself by slaying the evil ten-headed demon King Ravana, who had stolen his wife, Sita, the light of his life. He is then, after fourteen years, able to return home in triumph.
On Divali, people light his way back into the fold each year and at the same time, invite the gifts of the Goddess of Prosperity and Plenty, Lakshmi. They place clusters of deyas, small clay lanterns filled with oil and a burning cotton wick, along all the pathways, garden walls, windowsills and patios in a town or village. The flickering glow, providing a warm welcome.
Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights celebrated near the Winter Solstice, commemorates a miracle which is a metaphor for the dwindling, then returning light of the season. The popular story goes: the stock of oil that was used to fuel the everlasting light on the altar of the temple ran low. A one-day supply was all that was left, but it was somehow able to continue burning for the eight days that it took to procure more. The eight-day Chanukah ritual involves the lightening and blessing of eight candles in a menorah, a ceremonial candelabra. One additional flame is kindled each night, mimicking the gradual gathering of light in the dark sky. For Jews, the candles represent the light of truth, the flame of freedom.
Throughout Northern Europe where the weather is more severe, the solstice fires were lit indoors. The Yule log and colored light decorations which are today emblematic of Christmas are the same as were once lit in honor of Sulis, Sol, Sunna, the old Goddess of the Sun. In Sweden, Santa Lucia, Saint Lucy, Saint Light, is observed on December 13, the date of the Winter Solstice on the old Julian calendar. Young girls dressed in white nightgowns with crowns of lit candles in their hair parade the streets at dawn, waking people with coffee and fresh baked cakes in the spiral shape of the many-spoked sun wheel.
Kwanzaa is an African American holiday that has been celebrated during the solstice season since 1966 when it was first conceived by Dr. Maulana Kerenga, a Black Studies professor and cultural nationalist. Although it is inspired by East African harvest and thanksgiving festivals -- Kwanzaa means "first fruits" in Kiswahili -- it is celebrated like a solstice fire festival. A major ritual element is the lighting of seven, red, black and green candles in a kinara, or holder. Each candle stands for the Seven African Principles, fundamental precepts upon which a creative, productive, and successful community life is based: Umoja, unity; Kujichagulia, self-determination; Ujima, collective work; Ujamaa, shared economics; Nia, life purpose; Kuumba, creativity; Imani, faith. Beginning on December 26, they are lit alternately from left to right, one each night, until they are all aglow.
In both imperial China and pre-Columbian Peru, it was the holy duty of the emperors to personally assure the continuation of the cosmos through their annual performance of ritual sacrifices to heaven on the Winter Solstice. After fasting for three days they would each emerge before the Winter sunrise and proceed to the top of the Round Mound in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing and to Haucaypata, Cuzco's ceremonial plaza. There, before retinues of their peoples, they lit fires and offered libations and obeisance to the celestial center of the universe. They knelt, they bowed -- the Inca blew reverent kisses -- to the supreme solar source of all light.
The King of Swaziland in South Africa, the incarnation of the Sun, Himself, retires in seclusion for the period preceding the solstice. Then, on the day of the sun's return his warriors dance and chant around a fire in front of his compound, urging him to emerge from the dark. The Mayan Indians of Guatemala perform a flying pole dance, palo voladare, in honor of the old, indigenous pre-Columbian Sun God. Two dancers climb a fifty-foot pole to the energetic beat of a flute and drum. At the top, they each wrap one end of an attached rope around one of their feet and leap off into the wild blue yonder. If they manage to land on their feet, the Sun God will be pleased enough to start sending more light to earth each day.
Soyal is the Winter Solstice observance of the Hopi people of the American Southwest. During this sacred season of solar renewal, the kachinas, the guides, the spirit helpers of the tribe, emerge from their dark kivas. They come up from the underground ceremonial spaces to join the community for the six-month period of ascending light. Fires are lit and the original creation tale is retold, re-enacted and reclaimed. This ritual participation in the process of the universe affirms and assures the continuation of the cyclical order of time. At Soyal, the sun is symbolically, ceremonially, turned back, thus renewing life for all of the world.
The return of the retreating sun that retrieves us from the dark of night, the pitch of winter, is a microcosmic recreation of the origination of the universe, the first birth of the sun. The Winter Solstice is an anniversary celebration of creation. It is both natural and necessary to join together in the warmth of community to welcome the return of light to a world in the dark and to rekindle the spirit of hope in our heart.
Lighting a light at the darkest time of the year is a pledge somehow. A promise. A sacred vow. Such a small, symbolic gesture. So elegantly simple. So significant. Each tentative flicker of each flame is a reminder of the fragility and pulsating persistence of the life force. Each spark, a signal flare of faith.
One by one, in tiny increments,
candle by candle, gesture by effort,
wish by prayer, concern by care,
we feed the life-fires of the soul
and light the infinite universe,
little by little from within.
--DH
Donna Henes, Urban Shaman, is a contemporary ceremonialist
specializing in multi-cultural ritual celebration of the cycles
of the seasons and the seasons of our lives.
She is the author of The Queen of My Self, The Moon Watcher's Companion, Celestially Auspicious Occasions, and Dressing Our Wounds In Warm Clothes, as well as the CD, Reverence To Her: Mythology, The Matriarchy & Me. She is also the editor and publisher of the highly acclaimed quarterly journal, Always In Season: Living In Sync with the Cycles,
On the Winter Solstice in 1982, she composed the first (and to this date, the only) satellite peace message in space: "chants for peace * chance for peace."
Mama Donna, as she is affectionately known, has offered lectures, workshops, circles, and celebrations worldwide for 30 years. She is the director of Mama Donna's Tea Garden & Healing Haven, a ceremonial center, ritual consultancy and spirit shop in
Exotic Brooklyn, New York.
For further information, a list of services and publications, a calendar of upcoming events and a complimentary issue of Always in Season:
Living in Sync with the Cycles. contact:
MAMA DONNA'S TEA GARDEN AND HEALING HAVEN
PO Box 380403
Exotic Brooklyn, NY 11238-0403
Phone: 718-857-1343 NOTE NEW NUMBER
Email: CityShaman@aol.com
http://www.DonnaHenes.net
http://www.TheQueenofMySelf.com