A sermon by David Eagleye Crump

for the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

December 18, 2005

Winter Solstice will occur this Wednesday, December, 21, at 2 p.m. This day is the shortest day of the year; that is to say, the length of time between sunrise and sunset is less than anytime during the year.

So I invite you to sit back for a moment, take a deep breath and try to suspend the chatter in your brain and think: This coming week each of us will share with everyone else in the Northern Hemisphere the least amount of daylight in the whole year. A little depressing isn’t it? Not to worry . . . because starting this Thursday, each day we will see an increasing amount of daylight.

Our first hymn, “Dark of Winter,” sings “darkness soothe my weary eyes that I may see more clearly.” Seeing in the dark—not necessarily a strange idea, because for ancient religious traditions Yule, or Winter Solstice, represented the rebirth of light. Some even believed that during this longest night of the year, the Goddess gave birth to the Divine Child of Promise. His was the promise of summer and the return of the sun.

In early human civilization, as the days grew colder and the nights grew longer, candles and fires were lit to lure back the sun. At this "time of darkness" the Earth was sleeping, and many did not survive. Winter was a time of death and stagnation. So the night of the sun's "rebirth" was celebrated with much joy. From this day forward, the days would become longer. Even though the cold and darkness still prevailed, hope was renewed and the people began to look forward to the warmth of summer. Yule was not celebrated in early Celtic traditions until the 5^th century, introduced to Britain by the invading Saxons. The Saxons viewed Yule as the “turning time”, literally meaning "wheel" in Old Norse. Because the symbolism of the wheel was so important, Yule became one of the eight major seasonal festivals, or sabbats, in the Celtic calendar. It became a day sacred to the Goddesses of the spinning wheel. Wreaths were a popular representation of the endless cycle . . . the Wheel of the Year. Evergreens were sacred because they did not "die," thereby representing the eternal aspect of the goddess.

So . . .

On this winter holiday, let us stop and recall that this season is holy to one and to all. Unto some a Son is born, unto others a bright Sun, and we know that all paths are one.

Be it Chanukah or Yule, Christmas time or Solstice night, All celebrate the eternal light. Lighted tree or burning log, or eight candle flames. All gods are one god, whatever their names.

“Share the Light”, http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos509.htm