Yule & Winter Solstice Pagan Celebration Guide

Ancient Pagan Traditions + Natural Science

• The earth’s actions that cause the Winter Solstice are not inherently Pagan, but the original celebrations of the event by people were Pagan in a historical sense.
• Science:
  Every year, the Earth tilts farther away from the Sun before tilting closer again; this is what gives us our beautiful seasons. This tilt causes the longest night of the year and the shortest day of the year.
  Winter Solstice happens in the winter season when on the date of the longest day of the year.
• Spirituality:
  Historically, people on this beautiful Earth celebrated the changing of the seasons with rituals, marking events such as the alignment of the sun during a Solstice, burning fires, and lighting of candles to symbolize the increasing power of the Sun.
  The rituals of these people became what we practice today as children of these ancient Pagan cultures.

The Celts and Norse Peoples:

Ireland, Scotland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden.

Long story short: Yes.

• As many Witches know, and now science supports, our DNA carries the memories of everyone who made us who we are today.
• You may have DNA from a culture that doesn’t represent who you associate with today.
• You may have Irish or Scottish ancestry which would call you to celebrate Celtic traditions.

Similar Holidays

These are other similar spiritual- and ancestor-centric celebrations in the world that occur around this day that may resonate more with your ancestral history:

• Dong Zhi, Chinese
• Inti Raymi, Peruvian
• Lohri, Indian
• Saturnalia, Italian
• Shab-e Yalda, Iranian
• Soyal, Hopi
• St. Lucia’s Day/Festival of Lights, Scandinavian
• Toji, Japanese