Here in Australia, in the Southern Hemisphere, the seasons don't match the Northern Hemisphere. That is about as simple as you can put it. We are on the opposite side of the globe to the mainstream pagan culture - and as a result - our weather and seasons are the opposite. While the calendar year runs smoothly, the pagan Wheel of the Year is different. Yes the cycles of nature are still present, but nature itself is topsy turvy.
We are used to following the tradition of the North. Pop culture demands it. Globalisation resulted in it. We have only been hanging around in the South for a few hundred years. We are getting there. We are used to it though. As kids, we grow up with the winter themes of Christmas - Santa in thick woollen clothing, snow covered Christmas trees, Snowmen, reindeer, traditional hot lunches on Christmas Day. Ha. Bring on the beaches and the barbecues and the thongs (flip flops ;p)!
It's sorta funny - how the whole thing could even be a metaphor for paganism and Christianity - following a tradition because that is what we do - not striking out on our own because it makes more sense. But more on that later.
As children growing up in the Australia, we become accustomed to associating Christmas with winter overseas. We become accustomed to the traditional hallmarks of Yule, such as the decorated trees, the mistletoe, wreaths and pine cones, being associated with Christmas. We even become used to thinking Yule is just another name for Christmas. Ironic, isn't it.. when we are the product of the social conditioning behind Christianity at its most effective?
You mean Yule is its own holiday? Associated with Winter, not Christmas?
We can't celebrate the holiday for the Winter Solstice in the middle of Summer. That's not what the whole thing is about. We aren't waiting for the birth of the Sun.. it's already here. We are in the middle of Summer - it's hot, it's stormy and the thought of snow would be a dream. Oh to be able to move without sweating!
In Dancing the Sacred Wheel, Frances Billinghurst encourages us to look at our own environment and tailor the Sabbats to how we actually experience them, not how we think we are supposed to based on what we read. The following is my understanding of Yule, and how it fits my life.
So Yule is about the rebirth of the Sun God, hence the symbolism of rebirth, the turning of the wheel as it clocks over from the days being shorter than the nights - to the nights shrinking into day. It was traditionally known as the new year - so gels well with the calendar year, which in the Northern Hemisphere starts a few days later. We can take this thought as our own, and consider Yule as a time to reassess our goals and plans for the calendar year. How are we going with those new years resolutions? Have YOU lost 20kgs yet? (no). The God died on Samhain, the climax of the new calendar year is well and truly over, and we have been left our time to mourn - now is the time to pick up again, get stuck back into those plans we had for the year. We can't believe how the year has flown already. Better get to it!
We are also halfway through the school year. Phew. The School holidays in QLD (where I live) start now.. so its the end of the morning and afternoon school run for a couple of weeks. The beginning of the School holidays holds so much promise - all this free time.. but then again the challenge of looking after the kids all day everyday - cant wait for Father time to tick over and send them on their merry way back to school again!
We don't have snow, but we have a cold snap and winter rain. Here in Brisbane, we have had lots of rain this year - coupled with the cold, I can imagine I'm not the only one looking forward to the Sun coming out :) One pretty thing is the Wattle tree blooms this time of year - gorgeous yellow wattle flowers start appearing around the place - and as Billinghurst says, like little golden orbs of the sun - blooming to show us the Sun God is born and coming back. Or she says something like that anyway :)
And around the time of Yule, my little Sun Goddess was born - her birthday is 25 June. I like that correlation. She is my first born... changed my life - and she is bright and loud and sweet and beautiful.. my little Cancerian incarnate. So around this time of year her birthday reigns supreme in our house anyway - so there is gift giving and reflection (can't believe she is so old already) reminding us of the turn of the Wheel of the Year, and indeed our lives.
So there is a snapshot of Yule as I know it. I didn't mean for it to be so long! I hope you enjoyed reading it. I look forward to many more Yules... and finding new ways and reliving old ways in honour of the rebirth of the Sun God :)
