❄️Solstice Day☀️

Today is the Solstice - the winter one for those in the Northern hemisphere and summer for those in the Southern one.

It marks the traditional start of both seasons. Meteorological winter starts on the 1st of December and actually, I think they got it right this year!! 😂

But whichever one you are in, it has traditionally been a time for feasting and celebration.

The eating of ham and beef, the Yule log, and the use of plants and trees in the house as decoration started with this tradition.

Ancient peoples tracked the sun using various ingenious calendars and marked the day when days were at their shortest or longest.

Today, people celebrate the shortest day and the return of the sun for Northern regions - the symbolic death and rebirth of the sun - and the start of Yule, the pagan winter festival.
In northern climates, most cattle were slaughtered, so they didn’t need to be fed through the winter, so there was plenty of fresh meat and feasting a-plenty before the hardest months of January to April, when famine was a real possibility.

So today, let’s celebrate all things Yule, solstice, and winter, with music, images, and gifs, as well as our usual friendly fun!!