In December, darkness persists, but as the cold tightens its grip, frost blankets the ground, trees, and bushes, lending the landscape a softer and brighter appearance. The starry sky is especially mesmerizing on crisp frosty nights. The Geminid meteor shower can be admired, particularly around the middle of the month, and the year’s final meteor shower spectacle is provided by the Ursids, streaking through the Earth’s atmosphere around the winter solstice.

And oh, the feeling when the first snowflakes gently drift down from the sky! Despite the cold and long winter ahead, the arrival of the first snow can turn even the most hardened soul into a child again, bringing joy to the heart. In southern Finland, there are over 18 hours between sunset and sunrise, and above the Arctic Circle, the sun doesn’t rise at all during the polar night. So, snow is a promise of light even in places where the return of the Sun is still awaited for another month.

NAME: 
Joulukuu (Finnish), talvikuu meaning Winter Moon
December, or tenth month, from the Latin decem.
Cold Moon (Mohawk), Snow Moon (Haida, Cherokee), Winter Maker Moon (Western Abenaki), Long Night Moon (Mohican)

SPECIAL DAYS
–  Finnish Independence Day 6.12.
– Day of Jean Sibelius (Finnish composer) and Finnish Music 8.12.
– Winter Solstice and Celtic Yule 21 or 22.12.
– Christmas Eve 24.12.
– New Years Eve 31.12.

By December, it’s time to delve into the realm of water and the subconscious, into winter. The Finnish name “joulukuu” for December is a relatively new term for the winter month, which was known as “talvikuu“, Winter Moon, until the 18th century. Native American descriptions for the month include well fitting names like “Cold Moon,” “Snow Moon,” and “Winter Maker Moon.” The English term “December,” on the other hand, simply denotes the tenth month of the year, following the Latin “decem”, number ten.

December Ritual: Story Time

The darkening evenings tempt you to curl up on the sofa and turn on a screen, behind which we can immerse ourselves in well crafted stories through movies and TV series. Before television, families gathered around the radio, but if we go further back in time, people formed circles, often around a fire, to listen to stories. The oral tradition of storytelling is likely as old as human language itself, and the oldest stories, passed down orally, are believed to date back almost 40,000 years. Among the Gunditjmara people, an indigenous Australian people, there’s a tale about giants and volcanic eruptions, thought to be connected to a series of volcanic eruptions some 37,000 years ago, resulting in the formation of the Budj Bim volcano.

Storytelling moments can also involve music, dance, and song. Organize cozy evenings with friends in December for a small storytelling session, or gather people together for a larger event featuring stories, music, and perhaps some good food and drink. December storytelling evenings could revolve around topics like cherished childhood Christmas memories or sharing dreams experienced during sleep.

I’ve personally organized sauna nights where storytelling was combined with sauna rituals. Each person prepares a short personal story related to a pre-agreed theme for the evening. When we gather in a circle, one by one, we share our stories. While sitting in the circle, we don’t engage in dialogue or ask questions; instead, we take turns listening. Only later, perhaps on the sauna benches or at the dinner table, do we engage in discussions. This form of storytelling is incredibly captivating and empowering; after all, it’s quite rare to truly listen to each other without interruption or the urge to immediately share our own stories. This way, the stories also stick in our minds better, and their potential deeper messages become more readily apparent to the listener.

Winter Solstice

Our home star, the Sun, the Daystar, the Golden Spindle – our source of life, light, and warmth – is at its furthest point from the Northern Hemisphere on the Winter Solstice, occurring on the 20th or 21st of December. The longing for light and warmth could not be greater than it is right now! It’s a good time to draw or carve the ancient protective symbol, the sun cross, light a fire in honor of the sun goddess Päivätär, and start writing down sacred dreams.

The Winter Solstice marks both the beginning of winter and the anticipation of spring for those in the North. The longest night of the year is upon us, but at the same time, the Northern Hemisphere begins to gradually turn more toward the Sun. Despite being the shortest day of the year, the Winter Solstice has often been a celebration of light, celebrated as the Sun’s birthday. In Finland, the days between St. Thomas’s Day and Christmas have been called “nesting days”: our ancestors believed that during the Winter Solstice, the Sun went into its nest for three days and was born again, slowly beginning its journey toward spring.

The Sun is essential for us inhabitants of Earth, and this has been understood for thousands of years. The era of written history is short, but the Winter Solstice encompasses many different interpretations and reasons for celebration around the world:

Ancient Scandinavians, Germans, and modern Wiccans celebrate Yule.

The Egyptians celebrated the festival of the sun god Ra, the Greeks celebrated the festival of Kronia, and the Romans celebrated Saturnalia.

The Hopi Native Americans of Arizona celebrated the Soyal festival, the Incas of Peru celebrated Inti Raymi (although the festival is during our summer solstice, as the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere occurs opposite our summer). In Iran, the winter solstice is celebrated under the name Shab-e Yaldā.

Finnish Christmas traditions are a fascinating blend of indigenous pagan celebrations, Christian tradition, and the ancient Germanic and Scandinavian Yule celebrations of the Winter Solstice. Yule lasted for 12 days, and even the Finnish word  for Christmas, joulu,  derives from the ancient Germanic name for the Winter Solstice. The celebration of the Sun’s festival is believed to have emerged alongside agricultural culture, at least around 4,000 years ago.

Winter Solstice Ritual: Light a Fire for Päivätär

In Finnish, the old name for the Sun was Päivä, Day, and the Sun was ruled by Päivätär. Professor Anna-Leena Siikala, a researcher of folklore and religious studies, believed it is possible that Päivätär was a sun goddess who ruled life and light and was worshiped by the ancient Finns. However, in the Middle Ages, Päivätär was replaced by the Christian Virgin Mary as a motherly and life-protecting goddess. The characteristics of both Päivätär and the Virgin Mary are similar to those of the ancient mother goddess myth. 

The mother goddess of the Egyptians was Isis. She is often depicted in art as a woman with cow horns on her head and a sun spindle between them, nursing her son Horus, the sun god. Isis was worshiped by the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans alike. The most famous early mother goddess, however, is probably the Stone Age statue of Venus of Willendorf, which dates back almost 30 000 years.
In Finnish mythology, Päivätär and her sister Kuutar were thought to be skilled weavers and spinners and rulers of bees. Winter Solstice is the perfect time to sit around the fire with friends, drink a hot ginger-lemon-honey toddy, take out your knitting gear and share stories about the fascinating mother goddesses!

Winter Solstice Ritual: Predict the Future

In Finnish tradition, the time of the winter solstice was a good day to interpret omens and perform rituals with the next year in mind. The old folk predicted the weather for the upcoming year during the Christmas season. The weather on Christmas Day corresponded to January, the day after Christmas to February, and so on until Epiphany, which represented December of the following year.

Some New Age guides speak of sacred dreams during Christmas. The concept seems to have spread from the Russian anthroposophist Sergei O. Prokofiev’s book “Twelve Nights and Spiritual Hierarchies,” in which he guides the reader to pay attention to their dreams for twelve nights starting from December 25th. According to Prokofiev, the number 12 is connected to both the twelve signs of the zodiac and the twelve months, so the 12 sacred nights are linked to the cycle of the year and the cosmos surrounding our Earth. He notes that “the cosmic forces that govern the course of the year influence once a year, so that according to their spiritual content, the days and nights between them become, as it were, a condensed image of the forces shaping the cycle of the year.”

Whether it’s knowledge from the cosmos or your own subconscious, recording your dreams and using them for divination can be a fun activity. So, take a cue from these ancient sacred traditions and write down both the day’s weather and your dreams for twelve days starting from the winter solstice or Christmas Day. 12 days and 12 nights = 12 months! It’ll be interesting to see if your predictions come true in the following year.