Solstice ceremony pure celestial joy

SIX MORE DAYS AND THE sun’s reclusive, anti-social and dark-spirited behavior ends.

The end is subtle, hardly noticeable for weeks. It’s as if the sun is in counseling for its bad attitude and progress is painfully slow. Still, the idea that darkness is retreating and nothing will stop the advance of daylight for six delightful months is worth celebrating with gusto.

“We need light,” says Peggy Mahoney, leaving no room for argument. Peggy and her husband, Norm, are retired in Hayden. They never fail to appreciate the December winter solstice that heralds daylight’s reign over the Northern Hemisphere or the June summer solstice, the day of the year with the most light.

“The winter solstice is a significant event and if it isn’t, it ought to be,” Norm says. “We’re turning the corner, we’re part of creation, the world.”

This year’s winter solstice is Dec. 21 at 4:42 a.m., according to one Web site. Coeur d’Alene will celebrate the return of light as communities have celebrated for an estimated 4,000 years: with song, evergreens and fruit and candles. The North Idaho Unitarian Universalist church organized the celebration for 10:30 a.m. this Sunday at the Harding Family Center, 411 N. 15th St.

“Many traditions we practice today are based on solstice traditions,” says Sue Hansen-Barber. The Kingston teacher organized the church’s first public celebration two years ago and is helping it develop into a tradition for some families.

The solstice is a scientific event that triggered spiritual beliefs that developed and spread. Earth is tilted on its axis so one hemisphere is closer to the sun than the other. That tilt causes seasons, weather differences and changes in the length of days.

No one knows for certain when ancient people began to understand Earth’s rotation. Solstice lore suggests that people understood that the gradual disappearance of light meant an end to their ability to grow food. That growing darkness sparked fears of permanent dark. At some point, someone began measuring the length of daylight with notches or marks. That’s how people learned the dark retreats.

But when the same light ebbing/light returning process repeated again and again, people began to understand the light had a cycle that coincided with seasons. People shifted their lives to work with the light because they knew it always would return. They welcomed the light and encouraged it with music, good food, bonfires and togetherness.

“After the celebration, you do feel uplifted,” says Ken Korczyk, a regular participant at Coeur d’Alene’s solstice celebration. “You’re celebrating the turning of the wheel. It gives you a better understanding of what you’re all a part of. People are real joyous.”

Sue knew the solstice meant a lot to her neighbors in North Idaho, where short days and frequent gray skies pull mood levels into the depression zone. With her church’s support, Sue wrote a ceremony that borrows from a variety of cultures and spiritual practices. Most cultures throughout the world have some type of celebration timed around the solstice.

Sue starts with a Native American smudging ceremony. People gather in a circle and call spirits from the north, south, east and west, then read aloud about the elemental power – the earth, wind, water and fire – from each direction. They light sticks of sage and fan the smoke in each direction with bird feathers.

The ceremony includes solstice songs, including one to the well-known tune “Joy to the World.” The songs celebrate the returning light and the seasons.

People read aloud about the first solstice celebrations. Ken will read about nature’s enduring cycle this year, about affirming people’s connection to the energy and power of Earth and renewing family ties, reflecting on the old year and looking forward to the new one.

Sue asks people to meditate about what happens to them when the weather turns cold, how they move toward the light and what they plan for the new year. People bring fruit or greenery to symbolize the sun or the benefit of light’s return and take home packets of birdseed as their offering to nature.

The celebration closes with a candle ceremony and music.

During the hectic Christmas season, Sue needs the solstice celebration to slow her down and remind her of her connection to other people and Earth.

“It’s a very centering kind of thing in a season that’s become so commercial,” she says.

Even better, the solstice falls on the first day of winter when people desperately need a pick-me-up.

“From here on out, the days are getting longer,” Ken says. “What an optimistic way to look at the start of winter.”