a result of all these rituals, I feel that my consciousness has been enhanced. My dreams are often prefaced with an image of me running through a house, chased by a great Ocean wave. At the point that I allow the wave to wash over me, my dreams for the night begin. I have found these dreams to be prophetic, symbolic, and instructive. I call them my Benin dreams.
An Introduction to Winter Blue Mother Moon
Night comes early in Winter. At Moonrise the Earth is quiet, and Nature sleeps beneath Her blanket of snow. She dreams of the coming of Spring, the return of the Sun, a time when She will blush and blossom and birds will sing in Her hair. Tomorrow. Soon. But tonight She embraces the stillness; tonight She exalts the Dark. In the Dreamtime the Blue Mother Moon illuminates the sky. Trees stand shamelessly naked, exposing their branches to the wind. The Moon's light casts deep shadows. Humans gaze at Her in wonder and take refuge in their homes.
There, before the fireplace, we gather. Frosty clouds of breath escape from our mouths. Reverently we lay oak logs and strike a match in honor of the Sun. And comforted, we warm our hands as Blue Mother Moon smiles. We gather our family around us, embrace friends, and make peace with our enemies. We cook life-sustaining porridge and bake breads made of wheat, oats, and rye. Those who can afford it will flock to warm climates, to Florida or Jamaica, to bask in the Sun. The unfortunate ones, the homeless people, will wander in the streets. They will freeze, starve, and die, and Blue Mother Moon will cry for Her children.
The truly fortunate, who possess a kind heart, will open their doors and their pockets. Soup kitchens will flourish, and the sad eyes of needy children will be brightened by holiday gifts sincerely given. Through mutual help we will survive the Winter.
The Winter Solstice
The symbols of Christmas—the Nativity scene, the tree with its lights, the gift giving, and nearly all the songs of the season—have their roots in the pre-Christian tradition of the Winter Solstice.
The Wheel of the Year charts the movement of the Sun. The Winter Solstice (December 21) is the longest night and the shortest day of the year. Now, when the Sun is at its weakest point (in the astrological sign of Capricorn), humans turn inward to sleep and dream Gust as Demeter weeps for the lost Persephone). We make appeals to the Sun to return to us, to bring us through Winter's Darkness into the Light of Spring. We make these appeals in the symbolic language of myths and rituals by creating celebrations of Light that reflect our hopes and dreams. Some of these celebrations begin in the darkest part of Autumn, before the Solstice, and continue throughout the Winter season. From the point of the Solstice onward, the Sun increases in strength, and we declare that “He (the Son of the Sun) is born” from the virginal womb of the Great Dark Mother.
Bring us through Winter's darkness into the light of Spring.
The Sun represents the male God, and its death and rebirth on the Winter Solstice is seen as the death of the old solar year and the birth of the new, or the birth of the Divine Child, the Sun God of the new solar year. To the Egyptians he was Horus, the Divine child of Isis and Osiris; to the Greeks and Romans he was Apollo, son of Zeus and twin brother to Artemis, the Goddess of the Moon; to Norse and Anglo-Saxons he was Balder; to the Phoenicians, Baal; and to the Celts, Bel.1
The Christmas Tree symbolizes the Tree of Life, and the traditional holiday wreath and Yule log both represent the Wheel of the Year, the travels of the Sun. They are evergreens, plants that maintain their powers in winter; they are decorated with symbols of increase, plenty, and light. Tannenbaum, from the popular song “Oh Tannenbaum,” which is sung when the tree is lit, is a Celtic word that means “sacred tree,” and yule is a German word that means “the wheel.”
The ancient roots of Christmas become even clearer when we consider the Roman holiday of Saturnalia (December 17-24). During this time the rules of society were relaxed and social positions were reversed. The king became a pauper, masters served their servants, and little dolls were given as gifts in honor of Oops, the Goddess of Opulence. December 24 was the Night of the Mothers, when the power of birthing was celebrated. (At one time the church declared this Adam and Eve Night.) On this night women were exalted for their ability to produce and nurture human life. (Later we will explore the celebrations of the Mother Goddess that occur this time of year in Brazil and West Africa.) The next day, December 25, was Juvenalia, Children's Day, when the youngsters were given wonderful food and warm things to wear, especially socks, which became the present-day Christmas stocking. It seems the mothers of my childhood retained this custom, whether they knew its origins or not. Giving warm clothing is a practice I'd like to see reembraced during the time of the Winter holidays.
The practice of kissing under the mistletoe gets risky—depending upon who is in the room! This covert courtship ritual comes from the Druids, who saw symbols of fertility in this evergreen plant with white berries (semen) and golden roots (sunlight).
At midnight on December 31 our ancestors made great noises to chase away the Spirits of the old year. Sometimes a doll made of old clothes was buried at midnight. Today Old Father Time, who is bearded, robed, and carrying a blade, yields to a bouncing baby boy wearing a crisp new diaper, blowing a horn, and throwing confetti, and everybody cries out joyously, “Happy New Year.” The old pagan rituals live on in Christian clothing.
And in the second half of the twentieth century, the African American holiday of Kwanzaa was born, and the cycle of new traditions birthing from old lives on.
Christmas
The story of Christmas is probably the most well-known myth of origin in Western culture. The short version goes like this:
Mary, the daughter of Anne and Joachim, was a virgin. The Angel Gabriel visited her and informed her that she would be “overshadowed” by a dove. God, her Father, who made her without the Original Sin of Eve, would impregnate her (by blowing in her ear) so that she could give birth to Him as her son. Her widowed fiancé, Joseph, agreed to the plan without question. But they had to deal with the government like everybody else, so they went to Bethlehem to register for the census. While there, she gave birth to a baby boy in a stable. Three wise men (one of them Black) followed a star from a great distance to come visit the child, who was born on December 25 (an arbitrary date). That was the first Christmas. His birth gave the Western world its division of historical time. From then on, Western history would be measured as occurring before (B.C. and backward) or after (A.D. and forward) the birth of her little boy, the illustrious ancestor supported by and identified with or as God.
—Luisah Teish
Celebrants recount the story by constructing a nativity scene with Mother, Father, Child, and Visitors all in their places on the front lawn. Their homes are adorned with beautifully colored lights, and Yule logs crackle in the fireplace. They decorate a green tree with delicate glass bulbs, hovering angels, drizzling snow, candy canes, and on the very top a guiding light…a star. Songs are sung, a delicious meal is consumed, and people kiss under the mistletoe. When the glowing embers of the Yule log turn to ashes, and as children sleep through the midnight hour, the Flying Dutchman arrives.
Santa Claus: The Flying Dutchman
Santa Claus is an American adaptation of Sint Nikolaas (Saint Nicholas), the Flying Dutchman. He is also known as Père Noël, Grandfather Frost, and Kris Kringle. He is believed to have been a 3G bishop from Anatolia who wore a red suit trimmed in white fur. His flying reindeers, Rudolph and Company, may have come from Scandinavia. In Northern and Eastern Europe, the feast of Saint Nicholas, known for the generous tossing of sacks of money through the windows of poor homes, was
