Many traditional European cultures have customs involving harvesting, dragging, rolling, burning a special log around the time of the Winter Solstice which is the time of the New Year in some of the old calendars. (And this has come to be associated with Christmas in some places, which happens just after Winter Solstice). The central idea is that this log which is often dragged or rolled through villages, farmsteads etc, draws to it all the bad events, thoughts, acts, energy from the past year, and is then burnt to get rid of all of that negativity. (There are lots of variations in details, these are the basics I've based my practise on.) In my case, rather than having a bonfire outdoors, I use the wood in my indoor wood burning stove. I spend a lot of time and energy harvesting firewood, so I have a hard time thinking of burning it outside rather than heating my house! That being the case, I don't want my log covered in snow as it would be if I dragged it with ropes, so instead I pull it around on the sled I use to bring wood from the bush. Masking/mumming is also often a part of Solstice/New Year customs- often with the intent to scare away evil spirits/negativity. This year I decided to make paper masks (I'll have a video about those soon), but rather than 'scary' ones, I chose to use the Goddess Ragana, associated with the Solstice as a balance to the power of Saule/Sun (see my social media posts and blog for more about Ragana and nurturing darkness) and Saule as well-- so the masks represented the balance of Darkness and Light- both essential parts of Life. Music excerpt: Allemande by Wahneta Meixsell from the YouTube Audio Library
Out with Negativity! Dragging Yule Log + Solstice Masks
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