I like to tell people "Merry Christmas" — unless, of course, I know that they would prefer to hear "Happy Hanukkah" or a different appropriate greeting for their own winter holiday. But a good Solstice greeting was for a while hard for me to come up with. One of my acquaintances always says "Sweet Solstice." But the winter solstice, bound up as it is with the return of the powerful sun/son and the breaking of the hold of the dark, does not seem like a "sweet" holiday to me. Solstice is all about light triumphing over darkness, about rebirth, and about the turn of the solar year — not insipid concepts. Solstice and Christmas share the same themes, the strong colors — red, gold, green, silver — and the feasting, drinking, and merrymaking have the same roots, dating back at least to the Roman Sol Invictus festival. In fact, the very date of Christmas, December 25, supposedly comes from the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, the day of the birth of the unconquered sun. I would be willing to bet, though, that the major elements of this celebration of the return of the light go much further back in time, into the Paleolithic. The archeological record is so scant, still, but surely the same people who buried their dead with flowers or red ochre, and in the Neolithic built structures based on astronomical markers such as the summer and winter solstice, would have celebrated these times of the year in a heartfelt way.
Candle-lit trees, gift-giving, wassailing and carolling — all have roots in a non-Christian tradition still (or again) celebrated by Wiccans and neopagans the western world over. "Yuletide" comes from Germanic pagan celebrations held during this time. With my English and German background, a "Merry Yuletide" seems like a good solution to the Solstice greetings problem. It has a strong and happy sound, and to me this holiday comes in with a blare of trumpets and a clash of color, a bright light before the grim winter's rainy season. It denotes a span of days rather than one day, as does "Christmastide." In the U.S. that span seems to go from the Black Friday sales up into the New Year (which of course brings "white sales" for those whose celebrations take place at the mall). This year it appears we'll all be thrust into the grayness of January back-to-work and bills some time around January 5. At least we have Valentine's Day to look forward to — and the Asian new year celebrations! Yum, more great food, lights, firecrackers, and joyful celebrations!