So I missed having a Yule-specific experience because I was busily having an incredible get-away weekend with my husband, who planned and executed the whole thing. What a delight!
On the way home, we stopped at our Unitarian congregation for their Yule service, and the focus of the meditation there was to consider what creative projects we would embark on as the sun's light returns. Some sought more balance, others healthier living. And as I listened to my friends consider their upcoming efforts, I was, of course, reminded of new year's resolutions, and in turn, of my struggle to balance the Samhain celebration of new year with those who celebrate the new year at Yule.
So for me, Samhain is new year's. In the past we had huge, blow-out parties, and "Happy New Year" rang out frequently. I gladly adopted the new year tradition of many modern Pagans, and although my Samhains are far more low-key now, the sense that we are ending the year comes naturally with the feelings of Samhain, the close of what are often powerful seasons of summer and harvest.
However, Yule, and certainly the planning of projects and gearing up for the returning light, also feel like a new year's celebration. I have considered for many years now that perhaps I need to change my perspective and celebrate the new year at Yule, as I am aware some folks do.
But this year I had a different realization. While my Samhain Rituals are marking the close of the old year, I do not feel the opening of the next year until Yule. Perhaps this is something obvious to many people already practicing the old ways, but why must we close one year and open the next immediately? I don't close a day and open the next without a great sleep in between. I don't finish a meal and immediately start the next. I don't finish a project and turn to start the next without taking time to enjoy and savor what has been accomplished.
So why was I holding on to this expectation that the close of one year would be immediately followed by the opening of the next?
For me, now, Samhain will be the closing of the year. Entering a sleep. I am realizing how obvious this sounds as I type it, but it is quite a realization for me. And then I will mark the opening of the next year at Yule. The weeks that pass in between--well, they are already focused on the American holiday season. Thanksgiving and Christmas preparations take a lot of my time and energy, and I enjoy the pause in the year that the holidays impose. We made a point of getting the most out of the holidays this year, with a trip to Old Salem (a Moravian community steeped in American history that celebrates an old-fashioned Christmas tradition throughout December), many trips around town to soak up the Christmas lights, home-made Christmas cards, and catching The Snow Queen at a local theater as part of our anniversary celebrations.
I believe many people feel and act different during the holiday season--we eat more, spend more, and indulge more. What a wonderful metaphor of the day cycle applied to the year-- the weeks between Samhain and Yule as a dream state, complete (in my case) with the magical thought that calories won't make me heavier, and my bank account is endless. I love the idea of a pause between Samhain and Yule, a chance to take a break between harvest and planting, to simply enjoy all there is.
In considering this essay, I found another article along the same lines, and the author decided that celebrating new beginnings throughout the Wheel of the Year worked for her. She felt the rhythm of the festivals and each new beginning they represented, and she realized we don't have to be limited to one "new year" celebration. I love this idea as well, but for me, I like the import that the new year brings. It has a weightiness to it. So much so, that it needs two days--one for closing, and one for opening. I look forward to this new perspective, and I will keep you posted as I let it simmer a bit. In the meantime,
Blessed Yule!!
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