I have had a craving for bagels for a couple days. The thing is, most store bought bread gives me hives, so my craving had to wait a day, then overnight, then through this morning’s boiling and baking. But finally, I have my bagel, a Potato Bagel Star in fact. (I added some flax and whole-wheat flour to the recipe and topped a few with chia seeds, the rest with poppy or sesame seeds.)
So, I raise my glass of wild sweet orange ice tea to holding out for a craving, and bread in general, and to summer, whenever it decides to arrive. (I suppose we have to get through Spring first don’t we?)
That looks like an incredibly tasty veggie sub.
Did you know I like bread?
Or rather, I LOVE bread.
Can I have a piece?
Just a little piece?
It looks yummy, oh so yummy.
Keep looking at my cute face.
Not my hand sliding towards your bread.
Mmmm bread…
Brightly burns our fire tonight.
Magic dances with candlelight.
Hold my hand and join in song.
Raise the Sun King bright and strong!
Dark is giving way to light.
Brightly burns the fire tonight.
Winter Solstice is the shortest day and longest night of the year. It falls around December 21st of each year. It is a festival day in many cultures often calling for bright lights and fires, freshly cut evergreens, feasting with loved ones and singing and dancing. These festivities serve to rekindle the human spirit in the heart of winter.
In many modern Pagan traditions, Winter Solstice, is a celebration of the rebirth of the sun. Many still hold vigils awaiting the dawn, heralding the sun as the God reborn from the sacred womb of the Goddess. In other traditions a great battle is waged between the Oak King and Holly King where the Oak King triumphs returning to the world to longer warmer days.
It is a near certainty that Winter Solstice was of significant importance to ancient people, especially Proto-Celtic tribes. The evidence of this is obvious in the layouts of the stone monuments of New Grange in Ireland and Stonehenge in Britain. Each of these sites was carefully built to line up with the solstice sunrise. It can be suggested that the marking of midwinter was important for ancient communities because the people needed an approximate idea of how long their stored provisions had to last.
The most common alternate name for Winter Solstice is Yule a term originating from ancient Norse and Germanic tribes. It began as a celebration marking a 60 day time beginning at the lunar midwinter, but by the late Viking Age, it had become a great solstitial midwinter festival that amalgamated the traditions of various midwinter celebrations across Europe. On the the eve of Yule a huge log was lit in honor Thor, god of thunder, and feasting would continue until it burned out, which could be up to twelve days! A portion of the log was saved to be used in the lighting of the next year’s log. Read More »
