Welcoming the light...

Yuletide is the celebration of the winter solstice. Since summer solstice the days have grown shorter and the nights longer. Now this will turn and the days grow longer. We celebrate the return of the light. We mark the longest night. The yule tree is evergreen reminding us that life exists even in the cold winter. The lights and candles are to hold the light in the darkness. Each year we gather our family and friends together to share the yuletide vigil through the longest night and sing up the sun. We remember that it is with the love and support of our community that we are able to make it through the long dark nights of our lives. We light the candle at sunset so that there is always light in the darkness. The Yule log is the trunk of last year's Yule tree - a symbol of the spiral of life and death and rebirth. We sing and feast in the darkness. We sing to the returning light.