4 sleeps to go - King Winter arrives...

As a small boy I was always fascinated by things a bit mystical. I loved the old tales - Greek Mythology, Odin and the Norse Gods, The Four Winds, Jack Frost and The Green Man. I was enthralled back then by the four seasons being embodied as beings, and the strongest of them all, King Winter, used to scare me. Mind you, I did associate him with someone else at the time. It’s been cold for a while now and you might think that we’ve already been through the first day of King Winter - but you’d be wrong.

Today is officially the first day of the chilly season - or as it is generally known amongst druids and Earth mothers, the Winter Solstice. Today we’ll see the year’s shortest day and longest night. But it isn’t all bad news - from today the days will start to get longer again as the sun moves northwards and spends more time above the horizon. Interestingly the winter solstice doesn’t always occur on December 21. Sometimes it comes on December 22, which will next happen again in 2015.

Despite the Solstice, if it feels like winter’s already begun, you are also right. The weather men consider December 1 the start of the meteorological winter and March 1 the start of the meteorological spring. That’s because December, January and February are the three coldest months of the year. Of course we are lucky to still be here. Let’s not forget that last year at this time, some people thought the world was ending (isn’t it always?) and according to the Mayan calendar the world came to an end on December 21, 2012. Did I miss something?

With King Winter here and Christmas just a few days away, it’s worth remembering that there’s no biblical justification at all for celebrating Christmas on December 25. Christmas, or Yule as it was once called, was probably derived from Jól, the Viking winter solstice festival that pre-dated Christmas. Though the fairy story may tell that the Three Wise Men visited the baby Jesus in the dead of winter; that’s just a Christian myth. If it did happen, not even the Bible states what time of year the event occurred. Instead, the Christian church grabbed the date in order to hijack the Saturnalia and Natalis Invicti celebrations that were celebrated on the Winter Solstice. In fact, Christmas is a movable feast and has been celebrated in the past on March 28 and May 20, along with several other dates.

So, Happy Winter Solstice. Now crown the Lord of Misrule and set the Yule log ablaze – King Winter is here!