Hearthside

Historically, Midwinter or Jól would have been celebrated according to the lunisolar calendar, so the date of the Midwinter moon would have been in January. Jól traditions were moved after the introduction of christianity to fall around Christmas, which had been influenced in its date by the solstice practices of other pagan groups. In modern times, many heathens celebrate Midwinter at the solstice. That is not my own tradition, but I do recognize the solstice as an important day in the heathen calendar. To me the Yule month (December) and the Midwinter month (January) are ripe with festivity. The Wild Hunt is shrieking through the night skies, the frost and snow is settling everywhere, and the dark time extends itself over everything. The urge to retreat from the busyness of the rest of the year is strong. It is time to slow down the pace, and enjoy the warmth of hearth and home. Still, the Solstice day is a day to be outside, hailing Sol, knowing the light will be returning.  It ...

Tonight is Mother’s Night, or at least it is when I celebrate it within my hearth. Bede recorded it as being the Eve of December 25th, or Christmas Eve. However, it likely shifted to that date after the introduction of Christianity. Some modern heathens celebrate Mother’s Night on the Eve of the Winter Solstice, and some celebrate it on December 24th. Others don’t celebrate it at all. So what is Mother’s Night? It is the celebration of the female ancestors, or Disir. It is similar to, or may be the same celebration as Disting of Disablot, which doesn’t seem to have a set date in the sources. Some modern heathens celebrate both separately, with Disting usually falling somewhere between January 31st and mid-February. Others celebrate one or the other, and some celebrate neither. The truth is modern heathens don’t really agree much on what holidays to celebrate other than the major 3: Sigrblot, Winter Nights, and Yule. (And often with the addition of a 4th at Midsummer.) It is up to the t...

Happy Solstice, all! Hope it is treating you well, and Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there! I actually wrote the text for this blog a few weeks ago, but I felt my last post needed a bit of space before I posted something new. So here goes: My fiancé and I have been talking about starting a family for a long time. Due to the pandemic this plan and many plans within our household have been postponed. This has allowed me more than ample time to think about the household traditions I want to share with our future child. My current job is working with children, and between this and our inter-faith hearth I have been thinking long and hard about what is best when raising a child who is given a mixed spiritual education in hopes that they can make an informed decision about their faith when they are older. It is important to me that my fiancé and I can both share with our child our favourite holidays and traditions from growing up as well as the traditions that we each subscri...