“And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.”
By Susan Cooper
2 comments:
Happy Solstice to Twilight, anyjazz, and all! The highjacking of the Pagan-Pantheist celebration by the Christians has led us all to this time of commercial splendor, greed, and excess. Charities do well at this time of year, but those individuals with money do even better. The financial industry is expected to provide employee bonuses exceeding last year's windfall. Hilcorp recently made the news with their bonus program:
"Hilcorp Energy gives $100,000 bonus to all 1,381 employees"
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/12/12/hilcorp-energy-gives-100000-bonus-to-all-1381-employees.html
Peaceful and happy Solstice to you too, mike. :-)
Yes, and the fact that the over-done commercial glitz and greed goes against all that Christ preached makes it pretty darn meaningless in religious terms. Solstice celebrations, where they survive, and ancient though they are, remain more meaningful in many ways. Christmas has become something else, something it wasn't meant to be but has taken on its own "brand" and flavours. Most of us have tagged along with the "brand", it has become part of our lives, another style of marking the passage of time.
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