Autumn Cottage Diarist

A Strange Sort of Solstice

It's a strange year right to the end. Here are some thoughts on these particular 2020 Solstice days - and (as always!) a look around the garden as She rests and the year turns.

 

 

Imbolc Stirring Under the Snow

Today - searching for the hidden seed!

Imbolc - Brigid's Day. Celtic Goddess whose attributes include guardianship of the threshold ('step over, step in - and welcome!') and the hearth, patronage of the arts (especially poetry) and healing (and what a natural association they both have).  Herald of fertility and birth - of both beings and ideas, and Mistress of the Forge, place of reworking and transformation..

There was a lovely interview on the Radio 4 'Today' programme this morning, with Seamus Heaney's wife and daughter. He was a great 'enthusiast' of Brigid and Her attributes - and they recounted his last words before he died suddenly; - "in a text message he wrote to my mother just minutes before he passed away, in his beloved Latin and they read: 'Noli timere' – 'don't be afraid.'

For those facing challenges today, especially those of health issues, may Brigid's fire warm your body and soul, may you find nourishment and friendship at someone's hearth and as the signs of Springtime appear (even if blanketed today under a layer of snow!) may the words of loved ones, friends and poets help you to Be Not Afraid.

From 'Crossings'

On St. Brigid's Day the new life could be entered

By going through her girdle of straw rope

The proper way for men was right leg first

Then right arm and right shoulder, head, then left

Shoulder, arm and leg.

Women drew it down

Over the body and stepped out of it

The open they came into by these moves

Stood opener, hoops came off the world

They could feel the February air

Still soft above their heads and imagine

The limp rope fray and flare like wind-born gleanings

Or an unhindered goldfinch over ploughland .

    Seamus Heaney

Bridghe Doll, 2015

The light calls forth the Seed

And so the Festivals of Light are Come

…Winter Solstice..Yule…Christmas.- all over the Northern Hemisphere, in places where the darkness rules at this time of the year, grew the Festivals of Light, to lighten the darkness of an otherwise mysterious and fearsome world. Though I am not now a Christian, I grew up in a Christian home, so my earliest experiences were of the beautiful Christian story and its artefacts - the Nativity, The Gifts, animals everywhere, an abundance of stars (and one in particular!). A story combined, in my house as in so many others, with the older Pagan traditions of marking the Winter Solstice by bringing in greenery from outdoors; always a decorated Christmas tree (Thank you, Prince Albert!) but rarely a Yule Log - except in the form of a chocolate cake with robins, Father Christmas and tobogganing Snowmen, all added with abandon!

When I had my own family, I continued the old traditions and added some of our own - each year I buy and make one or two 'special' ornaments to hang on the tree, to join the obligatory toilet-roll Santa, made by Tim at nursery when he was three, and cross-stitched, bamboo chomping Panda, crafted by Hugh around seven years old. Both of those are non-negotiable. They go on first, in pride of place.

I also made Advent Calendars for the boys for three decades - covering a cereal packet in Chrismassy paper, attaching the annual gift of a religious ('proper') Advent calendar from their paternal grandmother, and filling the box with tiny, individually wrapped little gifts that I had collected through the year. For several years, these included the eternal egg laying plastic chicken from Hawkins Bazaar, which was an absolute treasury of ideas - the arrival of 'The Box of Stuff' from Hawkins was an event in itself each December..

Well, Tim had his last calendar when he was 30 - and now I have decided that Stockings are also no longer appropriate for the moment. Finding 'stuff' to put into them got harder and harder…I know that there was a groan  when the apple, tangerine and banana were retrieved, (but, I suspect, never eaten) and one more can of car de-icer would be one can too far this year!

So  this year, Baskets will take over - now for both boys and their partners - and material gifts will include more creative items than in the past… (can't give away TOO many secrets…) - but the tree is still up, the Naff Gnomes and Nut Crackers will still make an appearance, The Santas will once again convene on the desk in my hall.

The Ancestors will still get their bits of tinsel on their heads (whether they like it or not, though I think Sir Henry, as Queen Elizabeth 1st's Champion was more than used to a bit of glitter and bling) and I will still worry about the abundance of The Banquet (Who can eat what?, will there be ENOUGH? and will the roast potatoes be DONE??)

All will be as it should be - including last minute anxieties and panics. There will, of course, be more than enough…and we will all be, and have, more than enough, because we will have what I value more than anything material these days.  All around me, I will have my dearly loved ones. I need nothing else.

Enough!!

If you want to know what my own childhood Christmases of the 1950's were like - listen to this - Dylan Thomas reading his own 'Child's Christmas in Wales'. It is a blueprint for the way working class family festivities in Wales played out for decades, probably centuries, and a Transport of Delight for me each time I listen to it.

Make time to sit with your families and friends this Midwinter festival time, dear readers. Tell the stories…happy and sad. Write them down…remember them. Remember those no longer with us…for in your remembering, you make them immortal. Remember and love, as best you can,  those who are with us in the Here and Now - for in the end, love is all that is necessary, all we need and all that will remain, when the tinsel and trees are down and disintegrated into dust. 

Make Merry and Make Memories, my friends -  and the heartiest Greetings of the Season, however you celebrate it, to you all, from all of us at Autumn Cottage!

Greetings on a Merry May Day!

One of the briefest posts ever made, and I know I've been quiet here - but right now it is a case of gardening like mad to catch up with time lost through the atrocious weather of the last few months - or writing long posts indoors.

You know which option I am choosing, but to keep you up to date, here is a little stroll around Autumn Cottage garden on this gloriously warm and sunny spring morning - with best wishes to you all for a blessed Beltane 2018.

Back soon - I know you understand!

Imbolc Eve 2018

Some thoughts on what the Celtic Brigid offers us to work with at Imbolc - in the form of another little video. This time filmed on another camera..supposedly clever but 'auto-adjusting' the focus for me much too often.

Still much learning to do with this Video/Youtube lark!! 

 

Ten Precious Things to Light up the Season ...

Midday sun - 20th December 2016

Friends - this post was originally titled 'Ten Gifts Money Can't buy for Christmas' - but that would not be strictly true. Some of these ten gifts that I can give to myself or share with you *can* be bought with money - but they don't have to be. It's a pleasure to see how little you need to spend to light up your life... read on - you will see what I mean.

1. 'A Child's Christmas in Wales' by Dylan Thomas

Two or three pages into this short story and I am transported back to Wales of the 1950's, with Welsh Mams and Dads and Anties (sic) and Uncles and Nanas and Grampies all over the place doing so many of the things that embroider the pages. You *can* buy the book - but you can also listen to the whole thing (read by the author himself)  here

2. The Ornaments on the Christmas tree.

Ever since my eldest son was born - 32 years ago - I have bought one or two 'special' ornaments every year for the tree. But even more special than those are the ornaments made by the two boys themselves when they were young, (often entailing the inner cardboard tube from a loo paper roll!) which are wrapped so carefully and packed away each year and will no doubt be still adorning some other tree in some long off future time! Here is a selection of those precious items which are all on the tree already..

Stitched by H when he was ten years old

There's T's 'Loo Roll' Santa - made at nursery when he was two, and the silver acorns from Hampton Court.

The mini Carnival mask from Venice, Red Santa from Norland days...

The 'Versace ball' - acquired at the V&A museum when I visited the V exhibition with a dear American friend....and many, many more on the tree

 

3. The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King's College, Cambridge

(Image from BBC.co.uk)

Broadcast on the radio at 3 pm on Christmas Eve, this service is the signal for the proper start to Christmas here at Autumn Cottage. I will be in the kitchen, preparing vegetables or 'Pigs in Blankets' for the Christmas day feast - but I will still stop, as the treble voice of the solo chorister peals through the candle-lit silence of King's College Chapel with the first line of 'Once in Royal David's City'.

I will raise my glass of Croft sherry to the memory of my own eldest son, (himself a future choral scholar), leading in the choir as soloist in his last year at prep school, and also to the memory of my beloved Mother. She who always sat with me, in the kitchen, with her own glass of Christmas Cheer and a mince pie to listen to the carols. Through the ups and downs of life - precious memories light - with glorious and everlasting light - the dark days of Winter.

Here is that first Carol…and here is the full service from last year

4. Advent Calendars

Each year since they were small, my sons each received an Advent Calendar from their Granny. The earliest ones arrived in the days of the 'Hawkins Bazaar' novelty toy mail order catalogue, long before ordering on the Internet was a reality. So I created a little combination of the two, acquiring mini-treats to open with each calendar door (no chocs inside from Granny!), all collected together in an empty cereal box, which was covered in festive paper, with the calendar stuck on the front. In the process, I created a family tradition which has become much loved (though as my youngest reaches 30 next June, we thought it probable that this tradition will go 'on ice' after this year!)

The items inside can be trivial  - it’s the fun of opening mini parcels as much as anything, and can be collected over the course of the year - a really cheap way to give a lot of pleasure.

5. A Walk in the Woods

The perfect way to both escape the hassle of the Christmas rushing about - and also a way to connect with the reality of the season; Solstice, here in the Northern Hemisphere is the dark time, but also a monochrome time, a time of stillness and of restorative silence, in which we wait for the tilting of the world and the return of the sun.

If you don't have a woodland near you, can you seek out a park or a garden to just spend some time with, and be restored by the Silence?

6. A Snowball.

No - not the frozen water variety, but the cocktail drink made with Advocaat, lime juice and lemonade; it was my Mother's great delight to have 'A Snowball' for Christmas, ceremonially made  (complete with the essential cherry-on-a-stick) by my husband and flamboyantly delivered to her as she sat beside the fire on Christmas Eve. You can find the recipe (from which the image above is borrowed) here

Christmas is made precious by such memories of loved ones - why not spend a few minutes and a quiet moment, capturing yours? Write them down on a simple card or wooden (heart?) shape (cut your own or they can easily found at many large decorative stationers) and hang them on the tree. What unique and precious ornaments you can make to keep in your own treasure box.

7. Sheep safely grazing.

We sometimes have a flock of sheep put to graze in the field next door; it's a great and blessed treat if they turn up - as they have done - a day or two before Christmas. Here they are, last time they put in an appearance at Solstice.

8. A Game of 'Triv'!

 

Christmas is a time for silly games and none get sillier than the Cawley family playing Trivial Pursuit after Christmas lunch. Tissue paper party hats are required to be worn, I will have at least one fit of the giggles which will put me on the floor, eyes will be rolled (mostly at me) and ridiculous answers will be given to questions to which the sensible answers are already known.

All this is as it should be - no deviation will be allowed!

Though expensive if you buy it new, this - and many other board games - can be picked up for a song in charity shops throughout the year. Keep an eye open for this perfect antidote to terrible telly on Christmas afternoon (with the exception of Her Majesty's Christmas Message, of course!)

9. A Walk Around the Garden

See also 5 above - but a walk around my own garden is a particular pleasure at this so called 'dead time' of the year. It is anything but - pink Viburnum flowers already smother the shrub on which they grow, Hellebores are flowering, snowdrop, crocus and daffodils are pushing though. All keep hope of new Springtime life to come - and not too long to wait!

Daffodils pushing up under the apple tree - 20th December 2016

10. A Candle.

The ultimate symbol of hope - for Christians, the hope of the Light of Christ entering the world. For those, like myself, who reverence the natural world, a symbol on this Solstice Eve of the return of the light of the sun. Either way, an illumination of the darkness, in which - if we look - we can behold and befriend the face of The Other.

May you all find light and feel and share the warmth of both human and creature kind in the darkness of the year.

Warm Seasons Greetings, my friends!

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Imbolc…Candlemas…The Great Fire Festival…Brigid's Day…St Brigid's Day

Different traditions marking the never ending turning of the year; each following the other down the centuries. Blending, splicing, appropriating, sharing inclinations to acknowledge, with relief,  the evidence of lengthening days. The return of the Sun; a noticeable stirring of fertility, but also acceptance that the bitter, cold days may still be with us for a while yet, so giving thanks and celebrating hearth and home, fire and light-in-darkness.

This is how  Autumn Cottage looks on the Northern Hemisphere Imbolc days of 1st-2nd February 2015

Fragrant Winter Honeysuckle at the kitchen door

Sharp shadows and emerging snowdrops under the apple tree, looking down to the summerhouse...

... and back to the herb garden and the field beyond

The first solitary clump of snowdrops open under the tree...

...a whole drift of them under the hedgerow across the road

Purple Euphorbia putting on new growth

Abundant catkins on the hazel against a clear, but very cold blue sky

Finally, (below) to warm us all while the chill winter winds still blow, the warmth and light of a past Imbolc fire celebration in Marsden, West Yorkshire*.

Keep warm, celebrate hearth and home, but also welcome the sun, friends - at this Imbolc, Blessed be!

(*Image courtesy Wikipedia Commons)

 

 

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