Usually December 22.
Aisha's Moonlit Walk
By Anika Stafford
A fictional modern-day family celebrates eight pagan holidays over the course of a year.
Winter solstice is the shortest day and the longest night of the year. Traditionally, it is a time of both foreboding and expectancy, as the longest night leads to the return of the sun. “Solstice” in Latin means “the sun standing still.”
The Winter Solstice has become important to both humanists and pagans, who can find common ground in celebrating this occasion. Themes can include light amid darkness; the death of nature and the cycle of life; the darkness just before the dawn; the miracle of every birth.
Faith Without Borders
For everything there is a season—a time to die and a time to be born. With the arrival of winter’s low dark sky, communities around the world look to the miracle of light as a sign of rebirth and a source of hope. We celebrate the promise of new life and recommit ourselves to the protection of everyone’s right to his or her own radiant humanity.
Celebrating the winter holidays is an excellent opportunity for Unitarian Universalist congregations to express their commitment to our Sixth Principle: We covenant to affirm and promote the goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all. See Sixth Principle Resources for winter holidays.
From Tapestry of Faith Curricula
Unitarian Universalist Perspectives
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7
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The fulcrum of the Earth tilts toward goodness and I will ride along…Reading | By Jennifer Pratt-Walter | December 13, 2023 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Balance, Beauty, Earth, Earth-Centered, Good, Nature, Transcendence, Winter Solstice / Yule, WorshipWeb, Worship
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Grief is welcome, a sacred part of the mourning.Reading | By Kari Kopnick | March 1, 2022 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, Balance, Challenge, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Compassion, Despair, Empathy, Grief, Winter Solstice / Yule, WorshipWeb, Worship
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This solstice night [or day] In honor of ancient traditions that celebrate this time of longest night, we observe that the flaming chalice holds the elements of the four directions: Earth, air, fire, water....Chalice Lighting | By Sharon Wylie | May 5, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Balance, Earth, Earth-Centered, Nature, Winter Solstice / Yule
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Do not be afraid of the darkness. Dark is the rich fertile earth that cradles the seed, nourishing growth. Dark is the soft night that cradles us to rest. Only in darkness can stars shine across the vastness of space. Only in darkness is the moon's dance so clear....Reading | By Stephanie Noble | November 19, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Balance, Beauty, Earth, Earth-Centered, Nature, Secular, Winter, Winter Solstice / Yule
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An adequate Christmas would have you calm and open, taking it in, accepting whatever is. Slow it all down like you might be, in some way, attuned to the pace of the Eternal. If you need, you can fake it at first.Reflection | By Jake Morrill | November 29, 2017 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Advent, Balance, Challenge, Choice, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Courage, Direct Experience, Family, God, Self-Care, Spiritual Practice, Spirituality, Thanksgiving, Winter Solstice / Yule
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Night has its own kind of beauty, different than the beauty of day. Night is a time of sleep and dreams and inward visions, A time of pause within activity. Darkness is an invitation to imagining and storytelling, And to using ears instead of eyes to listen to the world in its stillness....Meditation | By Gary Kowalski | June 3, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Balance, Beauty, Death, Earth-Centered, Imagination, Listening, Mystery, Searching, Silence, Solitude, Summer Solstice, Vision, Winter Solstice / Yule
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Spirit of Life, The beginning of the holiday season is filled with temptations to conspicuous consumptions, and pleas for generosity. The contrasts between the values represented by this time of year, and our ability to fulfill them, remind us how great the distance can be between aspirations and...Prayer | By Wayne B. Arnason | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, Balance, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Hanukkah, Patience, Service, Unitarian Universalism, Vulnerability, Winter Solstice / Yule