it's my birthday week!

the winter solstice: reverent + raucous rituals of rebirth

My 48th birthday is this Thursday, December 21st. Yep, I’m a winter solstice baby… which means many things to me:

🌑 I was born on the first day of winter, the shortest day of the year. From my birthday through to the summer solstice in June, the days get longer. Mythopoetically, I suppose this makes me a light-bringer of sorts, but I know how to sit with you in the darkest of places without an offending headlamp. The winter solstice is akin to the new moon in a month. It’s the seed quaking in the darkness. It’s essentially the death and rebirth of the Sun. It’s the Earth’s new year, rather than the somewhat arbitrary Gregorian calendar new year.

🎁 As a kid, we often had our classroom holiday parties on my birthday instead of my class birthday party. My birthday parties always needed to be indoors because of the weather. Many people couldn’t make it because they were either traveling for Christmas or sick with a cold or flu. If I ever received separate birthday and Christmas gifts (lik…