During our journey through Advent towards Christmas, we experience the changing of seasons. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, tomorrow is the winter solstice, when we finally complete our annual descent into darkness and begin to experience the return of increasing sunlight.
As someone who lives in the frigid upper Midwest, I can say with real certainty that this is a cause for celebration! Pagans think so, too. But whereas Christmas is the focal point for me and my fellow Catholics, the adherents to paganism, New Age, witchcraft, and so on place an abundance of meaning on the solstice itself. This is a time, they say, of introspection, quiet, and celebration. True, it is, but whereas we have, through Our Lord, the full picture of this season, pagans miss the mark.
The practices of pagans and New Age—gathering with loved ones, giving thanks for our blessings, giving gifts, feasting, taking time off from work, decorating the home—are things that Christians the world over do during the Christmas season. (For anyone who wants to parade out the overused and much-misinformed argument that Christmas is a rip-off of pagan holidays, just stop. It isn’t.) But where these practices and traditions point could not be more different. Where pagans’ end is the created natural world, ours is the Creator of that world. That’s the problem.
Paganism insists that the natural world itself, and deities in charge of nature, ought to be worshiped. Humans shouldn’t just be aware of the seasons and engage in seasonal activities, but actively divinize nature through ancient rituals—or at least, for the pagans of our modern times, rituals recreated to appear ancient. New Age, on the other hand, is a relatively modern spiritual deviation that draws on various traditions, from Eastern philosophies to personal growth practices. The self, in the New Age spiritual tradition, is to be worshiped, in a sense, through the unlocking of mystical secrets that will help one live life to its fullest. Humans, the natural world, and so on are all part of a connected universe that should be collectively worshiped.
Both paganism and New Age are clearly deeply idolatrous, “divinizing what is not God . . . [revering] a creature in place of God” (CCC 2113). To honor nature, false gods, or the human person in the way that pagans and New Age believers do contradicts the way in which we ought to worship the one true God as told to us by Jesus. When it comes to the winter solstice, this idolatry is on full display.
Pagan cultures of the past, such as the Norse and the Romans, celebrated the winter solstice in varying ways—Yule logs, bonfires, gift-giving, feasting, offerings—but there were a few similar themes. For people whose livelihoods and cultures necessitated a close proximity to the natural world, the solstice offered a time to both reflect and celebrate; reflect as the year completed its turning and the hard work of the previous seasons came to a close; celebrate the hope and joy of the returning light and the bounty that comes with it.
Neo-pagans engage in similar activities, though our modern lifestyle makes us able to go about our days pretty much the same whether in the heat of summer or in the darkness of winter. Pagans today may celebrate on their own or with family and friends, or with a dedicated group, like a coven, trying to connect to the cyclicality of nature and so recognizing the dark quietude of impending winter as the perfect time to engage in introspection. As one year ends and another begins, reflection on and healing from the past, as well as setting intentions for the coming year, is a common practice.
Or New Age believers may see in the winter solstice the darkness inherent in a dualistic universe—the opposite of the summer solstice. Because of this, the solstice would lend itself to activities to complement this light-dark dualism, such as spending more time reflecting and journaling as the weather turns.
We, too, as Christians engage in quiet reflection, using the lead-up to Christmas as a time to prepare and make room in our hearts for Jesus. We await in joyful anticipation the birth of Our Lord. It is a time, as one liturgical year ends and another begins, to look at our habits and devotions, to make confession, and to engage in works of mercy. Done well, the weeks before Christmas are centered on religious devotions and spiritual practices that orient us toward Jesus. We are connected to the mystery of Our Lord’s incarnation through the vastness of time, from Mary, in the quiet of her own heart, and ancient Jews who waited thousands of years for the savior, to our joyful present to our hope in Christ’s return.
For witches or New Age folks, the winter solstice is also a time of celebration. After days of longer and longer darkness, the light will return outside and will grow until we reach summer. This natural reality can be seen as an outer expression of the light/energy/deity they believe lives within them. So to celebrate both, pagans will mark the season in a variety of ways, some of which are similar to Christian traditions. Others are quite different—some may make an all-night vigil of sorts and celebrate the return of the sun at dawn. Others light bonfires or fill their home with candles to signal the returning sunlight. Some may make pilgrimages to pagan sites, like Stonehenge or the Temple of Karnak in Egypt.
So, too, do Christians celebrate the light! Only that which, or rather whom, we celebrate is the Light of the World. Just a few short days after the winter solstice, we honor the birth of the Son of God at Christmas. The length of daylight expands until the summer solstice, when the light again begins to slowly fade. Interestingly, just a few days later, we celebrate the feast day of St. John the Baptist, who once said, “He must increase; I must decrease” (John 3:30), mirroring the fluctuating light of the seasons.
I can’t help but wonder if one of the reasons why there is a growth in paganism these days is in part due to our modern lifestyle. Rational though we are, we are still animals. Perhaps there is an ingrained need for nature. Modernity, with its plastic and nonstop artificial lighting (even the oscillating fan in my bedroom has a blue LED light!), has created a gap that pagans are attempting to fill with nature only, rather than God first and then his natural world. In this case, the winter solstice becomes vastly more important than it ought to. By all means, enjoy the sun, but first and foremost, place your joy where it should be: on the Son.