Week 51
Jolly Pagans | Dog baubles | Washing
Hello! And Happy winter solstice! The moment of the winter solstice fell at 3.27am this morning (as you will now if you consulted your Almanacs). From here on the light will start to creep back in, little by little, and then all in a rush. We have reached the darkest moment and it is all lighter and brighter from here. Hoooray! I had a bit of a chat about the winter solstice here, and if you are looking for some folky musical accompaniment to the day you could do worse than tuning in to my Midwinter Playlist here.
This is our community-led weekly post in which together we track the minutiae and grandeur of the changing seasons, and what can I say about your last-week’s comments? The scent of clementines and cloves, night bus trips along lit-up streets, shooting stars over the ocean: just beautiful.
We begin with a round up of those comments, rendered into a pretty sort-of-poem, then I tell you a few things I’ve noticed this week, and then we do it all again ONE MORE TIME (for this year, that is…we’re doing it all again next year).
Here is your Week 50:
A blackbird singing his heart out after dark in the town centre car park
Exquisite tiny pictures revealed in my adventure calendar each day
Everyone looked most dignified in their gold paper crowns at the office Christmas party
Watching Orion rising over the ocean from the shore of La Palma island, whilst Geminid meteors zipped across the sky and the Milky Way arched above my head
Icing hundreds of little gingerbread stars as presents for teachers
The Christingle service singing Silent Night by candlelight
Goldfinches flocking to my shiny new bird feeders
A night time bus trip to the busy lit up city, teenager giggles & festive coffees to revive our weary shopping arms
Leaving one clementine studded with cloves in each room of the house
Breakfasting by candle light
Homemade paper stars
Making yet another list
Too many trips to the post office, loaded with colourful wrapped packages and seasonal offerings, dried apricots, sugared walnuts, locally roasted coffee
The annual mass tidy before everyone arrives on Monday
Urban walks at night to enjoy the lights twinkling in windows and in gardens
A visit in the rain to Santa’s grotto
Visiting local care homes to sing Christmas carols with some of my community choir. All dressed in our festive jumpers with assorted felt antlers, jingle bells and tinsel garlands
Planting the last few crocus and tulip bulbs
Still no Christmas tree. Soon!
Lighting a candle around 4pm most days, as we head towards peak darkness
A family outing to a favourite local eatery for a festive curry followed by delicious mincemeat samosas and kulfi ice-cream
Some bulbs of one kind or another starting to reach up their little green shoots, making it feel like spring is closer than it probably is
A chance encounter of Orion and a couple of shooting stars during a sleepless 2 am hour
Dressing the tree, accompanied by the bittersweet sensation of memories of lost loved ones who gifted so many of the decorations
Burning orange and cinnamon candles in the evening to bring in the scent of Christmas
Spotting shooting stars and making a wish
Planting the garlic and onion sets
Switching to the flannel sheets
Feeling more excited for the solstice than Christmas - knowing this time next week I'll be able to say "brighter days ahead!"
Gorgeous. Thank you so much as ever for your beautiful snippets.
Here’s my Week 51:
Jolly Pagans
A friend put on the group chat two days ago that she had decided on the spur of the moment to go and see the winter solstice celebration at Stanton Drew (the third biggest stone circle in England and half an hour away from us) and would anyone want to come with her? And so forcing myself not to think about it too much I said YES, ME and before I knew it was dragging myself out of bed at 5am and setting off across dark Bristol yesterday morning. (Note: the local Pagans were one day out, but deliberately - they always do their winter and summer celebrations on the 21st apparently, for simplicity).
It was a fantastic experience. I love the stones at Stanton Drew and to be among them looming over us in the dark was magical. The Pagans also really put on a show! Poetry, songs, chants, a dance, the lot, all as the sun came slowly up. It was deep and thought provoking but you could also tell this particular set of Pagans knows how to have a good time - the head Pagan/Druid(?) got a big belly laugh for his little skit when his phone went off just after he had said ‘We are calling upon the ancestors…’
A very special way to spend the nearly-solstice, embracing the dark and calling in the light.
Dog baubles
My daughter decided that as we have a mini tree this year we should colour coordinate it, for the very first time, instead of throwing everything we have at it as usual, and so we are really quite smart. I am particularly delighted with these two baubles which I bought last year but which didn’t arrive until after Christmas, and so are having their first outing - dog-shaped baubles that somehow completely have the character of our two. Saffy above, snoozing…
…and Korina below, probably on the lookout for a bit of ham. I’m switching the lights on first thing in the morning and off last thing at night and the room is now twinkly and cosy.
Washing
Like someone out of a sitcom, my boy arrived back from uni for his first long visit home since he left with three great sackfuls of washing, and so it is draped from everywhere drapeable. I’m just kind of delighted by all of it to be honest.
That’s it from me except to say that there is, unbelievably, STILL TIME to snap up The Almanac 2024 to pop into a stocking or under a tree and gift someone a year of stars, moons and folklore.
I am not quite sure how I will do next week’s post yet because, much as I want to complete the year with a bang, I am also in dire need of a little brain break. I may pre-schedule a ‘holding post’ so that you can all continue to post your comments and keep up to date with what everyone has been doing while I take a short breather. This means no ‘seasonal poem’, but you can still all enjoy each other’s seasonal things.
So, please do leave your comments below, and pop back in and see everyone else’s. What have you done/see/smelt/eaten/gazed at that has felt particularly ‘this week’?
And in the meantime have a wonderful solstice and Christmas xx
Aah the dog baubles are wonderful Lia & will make you smile for many years - Merry Xmas & Thankyou for curating every week - your break is well deserved !
For me this week
Starting my annual reread of ‘the dark is rising’ which starts on midwinter eve, cosy under the duvet - the walker is abroad ...
A festive baking frenzy for friends & neighbours - shortbread stars, sausage rolls & florentines.
Visiting my 102 yr old Grandma Betty - a Yorkshire lass who has a penchant for dark chocolate pralines & salt & shake crisps. A special lady who has so many memories of Xmas past - we leave her with a smile & full hearts every time
Merry Xmas lovely folk xx
My first grandchild was born on the 20th, a little girl called Bella, (& she is absolutely beautiful). Her birth is a wonderful celebration of the circle of life after the death of my beloved father in September, & my dear mother-in-law just three weeks ago. I'll be making my Yule wreath today, as I do every year on the Solstice, & it feels like the perfect way to honour them.