If you are looking for new ideas to mark the Winter Solstice, this article by Elmira Jafari about Shab-e-Yalda (also called “Shab-e-Chelleh”) has some inspiration!

The festival was adopted by the Persians from the Babylonians, and is celebrated in modern times in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan as well.

In addition to keeping a fire lit all night (if you have a safe way to do so!), the holiday is marked with feasting on red foods (pomegranates and watermelon are favored), and wearing red, orange, and yellow clothing—the colors of fire and the sun. It is believed that, by eating summer fruits in winter, you can stay healthy through the cold months.

Parties last late into the night, and feature music and poetry reading.

Poetry and pomegranates—sounds like a wonderful evening to me!

[Image description:A piece of pomegranate rind with seeds and piece of the outside rind are on a red tablecloth, next to a yellow bowl filled with pomegranate seeds. The caption reads “Pomegranate” photo by flickr user Meesh Rheault/creative commons”.]

One of the things I loved most about Christmas as a child was the music—singing while making holiday treats, bundling up and going caroling with neighbors, and yes, even the school Christmas Concert, with all of us kids hyped up on sugar and singing with varying degrees of attention to our choir teacher’s direction.

As a grown up Heathen, I’ve wished for non-Christmas carols to fill my mouth and ears at this time of year. My talents do not lie in music composition or songwriting, so that wish has gone mostly unfulfilled.

However, this year is different! And for once, unlike most of 2020, it’s different in a good way!

You can now listen to the recording of the Homebrewed Book of Pagan Carols, produced by Leigh Ann Hussey (may her memory be green) with the Black Oak Coven, online or download!

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0jgRbbEgnOjwKCIDctT6Y3

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mltH8bED9WelyDJVNPPOy8hRWjecybbUo

iTunes/Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-homebrewed-book-of-pagan-carols-vol-1-winter/id1510046721

Black Oak Coven is more Celtic-oriented, so some of the lyrics refer to Celtic deities, and The Lady and The Lord, rather than Norse deities. Feel free to substitute your own names/lyrics!

Winifred Hodge Rose has a page with Norse-specific lyrics to a some of these tunes, and other seasonal songs, on her blog at Yuletide Songs.

[Image description: A pentacle shape inside a garland with different flowers, fruits, and plants representing the four seasons, and the words “The Homebrewed Book of Pagan Carols, Volume 1: Winter”, all on a light green background.]

Beauty That is Never Old
—James Weldon Johnson

When buffeted and beaten by life’s storms,
When by the bitter cares of life oppressed,
I want no surer haven than your arms,
I want no sweeter heaven than your breast.

When over my life’s way there falls the blight
Of sunless days, and nights of starless skies;
Enough for me, the calm and steadfast light
That softly shines within your loving eyes.

The world, for me, and all the world can hold
Is circled by your arms; for me there lies,
Within the lights and shadows of your eyes,
The only beauty that is never old.