12 Dec Honoring the Winter Solstice with the Most Beautiful Yule Log Cakes
The food is put away for the winter,
the crops are set aside to feed us,
the cattle are come down from their fields,
and the sheep are in from the pasture.
The land is cold, the sea is stormy, the sky is gray.
The nights are dark, but we have our family,
kin and clan around the hearth,
staying warm in the midst of darkness,
our spirit and love a flame
a beacon burning brightly
in the night.
Yule, when the darkness reigns supreme for one last day and night to then relinquishes its hold to the growing light. After the Winter Solstice and the longest night of the year, the next morning at sunrise, the sun climbs just a little higher and stays a little longer in the sky each day. The sun’s “rebirth” has been celebrated through the eons with much joy. On the Winter Solstice, our ancestors celebrated the rebirth of the Sun King, the Giver of Life, that warmed the frozen Earth. From this day forward, the days grow and winter comes to an end giving way to the fruition of all our hopes and dreams of a bountiful spring.
Meant as a symbol of hospitality, shared warmth and wishes for an easy end of Winter, the Yule Log Cake as long been created to help celebrate the dying of the dark and the rebirth of the day.