The Winter Solstice celebration at Neskaya is my favorite one of the year. Alas, because of COVID, we haven’t done it for several years now. Because our normal dance time is on Sunday, we would celebrate on the Sunday nearest the solstice.
We would begin as usual, at 5:30, with all the lights on, including the parking lot lights. We would start with favorite winter dances, like Kitka, a dance to a song from Ukraine about an enchanted forest. As we did the dances of the first half, we would gradually turn off the lights: first the parking lot, then the lights that shone on the ceiling, then the ones on the walls, then we would blow out the candles at the four directions, leaving only the single candle in the center. Then we would do Nightwalking, a dance by Marina Bear, where we start by walking around the circle, then do eight steps into the center raising our left arms. Then we do a traditional Hopi step for the ancestors which moves to the left, then we would back out of the center lowering our arms and begin again. In the space of Neskaya, with its round shape and curved roof, our shadows as we walked around would be large on the walls outside us. We could feel the ancestors walking in a bigger circle. Then, as we went into the center, the ancestors bent over us, their shadow arms stretching toward the center.
When the dance ended, we would all go into the center and gather around the centerpiece, a big circular tray with a large candle in the center, and tea lights in small glass candle-holders. As we sat down, the leader would blow out the candle and we would be in darkness. A black stone was passed around the circle as a talking piece, and each person had a chance to say what this dark time of year meant for them. Then the leader would say Susan Cooper’s poem, written for the Christmas Revels.
Susan Cooper, The Shortest Day
So the shortest day came
and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries
of the snow white world
Came people singing, dancing,
to drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees
They hung their homes with evergreens
They burned beseeching fires all night long
to keep the year alive.
And when the new day’s sunshine blazed awake
they shouted “Reveille!”
And all across the ages you can hear them, echoing, behind us,
listen —
All the long echoes sing the same delight
this shortest day.
As promise wakens in the sleeping land
They carol, feast, give thanks
and dearly love their friends,
and hope for peace.
So do we here now, this year, and every year
Welcome Yule!
On the words “the new day’s sunshine blazed awake” the leader would light the central candle. After saying “Welcome Yule” she would raise her arms, and every body would repeat “Welcome Yule!” Then there would be an opportunity for each person to light a tea light from the central candle and make a wish for the new year. We’d put the candles in the glass holders, stand up, and do candle dances. The Shepherds’ Dance, to medieval music, one of the very early Sacred Circle Dances, and Ring of Light. When we had done the last dance, we would turn the lights back on again and have a feast.