The Not-So-Bleak MidWinter
I am very much a summer baby - my ideal weather is 30 degrees, scorching sunshine. - but the child in me gets ridiculously excited at the first signs of snow. Winter may not be my favourite season, but once the ground is covered in fluffy white flakes I’m running outside with my camera. A couple of weeks ago, following a brutal storm that knocked out our power for a whole day, we awoke to a landscape covered in snow. Autumn drew abruptly to a close as winter descended with a heavy blizzard leaving a foot of snow that made everything magical.
But take away the snow and I tend to find winter the hardest and most miserable time of year. The short days, cold temperatures and wet & windy weather leave me feeling lackluster and counting down the weeks until spring (14 weeks to go at the time of publishing this article, which seems like forever). In recent years, I’ve tried to embrace the parts of winter that I enjoy, in an attempt to make the most out of my least favourite season.
I always tend to find a way to celebrate each solstice and equinox, whether it’s with a 10pm dip in my favourite lake in June or lighting a candle as the nights draw in and autumn approaches. While the shortest day of the year isn’t a particular cause for festivities in my opinion, it is also the start of the days once again lengthening. It is the turning point of the year, when our ancestors celebrated that the shortest day had passed and the world was once again beginning its advance towards the light. Midwinter (or the winter solstice) is traditionally marked on the 21st December - the shortest day and longest night - but many people choose to celebrate the whole month of December, on the lead-up to Christmas.
Traditional midwinter celebrations are everything that I love about winter, focused around light and nature. Celebrated here in the UK by the pagans, communities all around the globe have a rich history of winter solstice celebrations too. The Nordic countries burn yule logs, tell folk stories and cut mistletoe from trees to bring into the home as a blessing. Northern India celebrates Lohri in early January with huge bonfires. All around Europe and North America, light festivals brighten up the darkness and people bring trees into their homes to adorn with fairy lights. Many of our beloved Christmas celebrations have their roots in midwinter festivities.
I’ve already got into the groove with my winter solstice celebrations, lighting our wood burning stove most evenings, stringing lights and pinecones on our Christmas tree and foraging for seasonal foliage to decorate our home. I also love to tell spooky folk stories by the glow of the fire and reading seasonal books, leaning into the ancient traditions of storytelling at this time of year. Candles burn in our home every evening, and we use small lamps rather than turning on the overhead lights for a soft, warm, ambient glow. When the wind is howling and the rain is pelting against the windows, I will snuggle up indoors with a good book - but on cloudy, misty and snowy days, I love to get outdoors whenever possible. I like to collect honesty, mistletoe and holly to adorn my home, capture small moments with my camera, or just take my dog for a walk and enjoy the fresh air.
Midwinter isn’t so bleak, if you take the time to slow down and enjoy the best that this time of year has to offer. Rather than wishing away the winter months, I’m making more of a conscious effort to wholeheartedly embrace this season, enjoying the best that it has to offer.
