A Winter Solstice Ritual for the Longest Night (Yule)

The Winter Solstice, also known as Yule, marks the longest night and the rebirth of the sun. It’s the turning point in the Wheel of the Year, when the darkness begins to give way to the returning light. Celebrated on December 21st or 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere, Yule is a time of letting go of what you no longer need, and planting intentions for the year ahead. 

• Yule is the winter solstice, Monday, December 21 this year. The longest night, and then the days start growing again.
• The ritual: wait for dark, bring in something green, light one candle, burn resin, name what you're laying down and what you're carrying forward, then eat.
• What helps: a pine or cedar bundle, frankincense or myrrh, a chime candle and a dry bay leaf. All of it is on the shelf and most of it is under five dollars.

Keep it simple or go all out, it's entirely up to you! If you are new to honoring Winter Solstice or the wheel of the year, don't overwhelm yourself. One candle, a sprig of something green, a pinch of resin, a dry bay leaf. If there's a pot of soup going in the next room, better still. The point of Yule was never the finest altar. It's the fire you keep stoking while the night does its thing, and the evergreen you drag inside as proof that something is still alive out there.

Before electric light, midwinter was a real question. The Norse kept jól with a log that burned through the night, and the ashes went into the fields come spring. Germanic and Celtic folk hung holly, ivy and mistletoe because they were the only green left standing. The Romans shut the shops for Saturnalia and partied until the dark passed. Different names, same bones: a fire, a feast, and a stubborn refusal to let the dark win.

If you'd prefer guidance, reach for our Winter Solstice Ritual Kit. Made in small batches and when they are gone, they are gone until next year!

Prepare your space just before dark, and wait to begin your ritual after sunset on the Winter Solstice. Turn off the overheads, pull the curtains open, and sit in the dim for a minute before you light anything. The dark is half the ritual. 

A sprig of pine or cedar on the table, a branch over the door, a bit of rosemary. This is the oldest piece of Yule there is. Evergreen in the house says: it survives, and so do we. Cedar has been worked with for protection and blessing a home for as long as anyone has kept records, and pine for renewal and winter strength. Think, Christmas tree. This is where the tradition originates.

Candle colors for the Winter Solstice include red, gold or white, set in a holder on a plate works well. If you love to be elaborate (like me), you can use an array of candles arranged in a candelabra or adhered to your Yule log collected from your yard. As you strike the match, say the thing out loud: "The light returns, as do I." or any other meaningful mantra. It may feel silly the first year. But by the third year it's the sentence you've been waiting all December to say.

A pinch of frankincense or myrrh on a charcoal disk in a heat-safe dish, window cracked. Frankincense is the brighter of the two, the one that lifts a room. Myrrh is deeper, older, the one for grief and endings. Most years I burn both, frankincense first. Not in the mood for smoke? Try our limited edition Yuletide Solstice Simmering Herb packet.

Take two dry bay leaves. On the first, write one word for what the dark half of the year took from you, or what you're done carrying. Hold it with tongs and burn it in the dish. Let it go up with the resin or in a small fire. On the second leaf, write one word for what you're carrying toward the light. That one doesn't burn. It goes in your wallet, your journal, or a jar by the door, and it stays there until Imbolc.

Yule is a feast night, even if the feast is toast and a clementine. Eat something warm by candlelight before you turn the lights back on. If you've got people, this is where they come in. If you're alone, this is where you let yourself be fed.

Some folks keep the old way and stay awake through the longest night to greet the dawn. If you try it, swap the chime candle for a seven day candle in glass, which is built to burn long and safely, and set it in the sink or on a stone surface if you're likely to doze. A candle you can't wake up for is not a candle you should have lit.

Marking the passage of time was important to many ancient cultures. For the people of Stonehenge, who were farmers that grew crops and tended herds of animals, knowing when the seasons were changing was important. Winter might have been a time of fear as the days grew shorter and colder. People must have longed for the return of light and warmth. Marking this yearly cycle may have been one of the reasons that Neolithic people constructed Stonehenge – a monument aligned to the movements of the sun.

The stones were shaped and set up to frame at least two important events in the annual solar cycle – the midwinter sunset at the winter solstice and the midsummer sunrise at the summer solstice.

From the English Heritage Website

Learn more HERE

• Something green: pine, cedar, holly, rosemary
• Something that burns: a candle, resin, a cinnamon stick on the charcoal
• Something from the earth: a clear quartz or a piece of citrine for the returning sun
• Something to eat or drink: an orange, a cup of cider, a slice of bread
• Something sweet-smelling: a clove-studded orange, a sprig of dried lavender

• Holly berries, mistletoe and yew are poisonous to cats, dogs and small children. Hang them high or use pine and cedar instead.
• Resin only burns on charcoal in a heat-safe dish. Never on a plate, never near paper.
• A dry evergreen branch next to a flame is kindling. Keep a foot of air between the green and the fire.
• Smoke and cats don't always mix. If you share your home with one, read our cat conscious smoke cleansing guide before you light the charcoal.

Every December someone asks me whether they're doing Yule right. My opinion? Even if all you did was note the date and gave it some thought, you did it right. Sometimes we can overwhelm ourselves when learning about all the sabbats. You don't have to have an elaborate setup when you begin. This is something you build over time with no pressure, even if you miss it! 

Once you've woven in the rituals, they will grow on their own time. From one lit candle, to an entire altar. The point of the wheel of the year isn't to stress you out and give you more things to do. It is to lean in, hold lightly, and listen to the rhythms of nature. 

Everything above is on the shelf at Wild Raven's Nest, 602 N Rockwall Ave in Terrell, or in the Yule collection online. Come in the week before, stock the altar, and let the candle do the talking on the night.

This post speaks to folklore and spiritual practice, not medical advice.