The 12 Days of the Christmastide

The darkest time of the year is upon us with Winter Solstice December 21st, when the Sun slips to its position furthest below the celestial equator. Throughout the ages, cultures around the world have observed the Solstice as the time for the sacred ceremony of finding the inner light in the time of greatest outer darkness.

The 12 days of the Christmastide begin in this season, and are an ideal time for contemplating the 12 months past (2018), and the 12 months ahead (2019), especially as they are related to the 12 starry regions of the zodiac.

This event will happen over the course of two evenings, December 5 and 12, by registration only. Our presenter, Star Lore Historian Mary Stewart Adams, will lead participants through a process of hand-rolling beeswax candles in accord with the colors and dates of the Sun as it moves through the 12 different regions of the zodiac throughout the year. This is a joyful, creative, and contemplative exercise that is like a bridge of light through the season, one that brings fulfillment to the days and nights of the old year, while preparing the way for the new. Space is limited.

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
   The flying cloud, the frosty light:
   The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
   Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
   The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
~excerpted from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "In Memoriam"