WELCOME YULE!
Solstice at Starseeed ~ Celebrate Joy ~
Saturday, December 21
11:30am - 9:00pm
Celebrate this year's Solstice in an intentional way with other kindred spirits.
Starseed Healing Sanctuary and; Holistic Retreat Center
672 Chapel Road
Savoy, MA 01256
Phone: (413) 743-0417
Email: [email protected]
http://www.starseedsanctuary.org/
Let us come together in community. Enjoy delicious food and enlivening company. Commune with the land. Enjoy music and song; meditation and ceremony; gift-making and gift-giving; gift-purchasing and fun-raising. We are out to have a good time. Come Join Us!Solstice Fun-Raising: We have a beautiful program with many festivities planned for the Solstice.
Come Friday for Gifting of the Open Heart and stay overnight. Spend the morning the sanctuary. Gather for a powerful Solstice meditation and ceremony to receive the new solar light. Enjoy a Starseed-hosted lunch. Purchase beautiful and meaningful gifts. Create a wreath of your intentions for the new year. Enjoy a holiday potluck supper followed by a celebration which includes offerings of music, song, poetry, dance, and laughter. Settle down for a restful sleep in sanctuary. Join us for any of all of this. Throughout this event there will be music and song offerings by talented friends of Starseed, including, Sarah Pirtle, Giovanna Spies, and Elisabeth Taylor. We invite you to bring your offerings of music and song as well. The Christmas Revels ~ In Celebration of the Winter Solstice16 Performances
DEC. 13-27, 2013
Show length about 2.5 hours
George Emlen, Music Director
Directed by Patrick SwansonSanders Theatre, Harvard University, Cambridge, MAMap
Directions
Parking
Buy Tickets Online
See the full schedule
The 43rd annual Christmas Revels takes us to Galicia in Northern Spain, an area with a strong sense of Celtic identity where, since the Middle Ages, pilgrims have walked the Camino de Santiago (The Way of Saint James). Our story follows Everyman, a allegorical character summoned by a mysterious figure who tells him his days are numbered. He must go on a journey to the end of the earth to be there for the shortest day. Needless to say, colorful encounters - and glorious music- abound!
Filled with evocative Spanish music, exciting dance and magical stories, our celebration includes a treasure trove of Galician processionals, songs and carols plus many Revels touchstones audiences enjoy every year including Susan Cooper's classic poem, The Shortest Day, Dona Nobis Pacem, the Sussex Mummers Carol, a seriously funny Mummers play, and Revels' signature piece, the joyous and participatory Lord of the Dance.CUUPs (Covenant of UU Pagans) Yule celebration
"On Saturday, December 21 at 7 pm in the Barn Room, the Pagan Earth centered festival of light held at the time of Winter Solstice. Common to almost every world culture, many of our present day traditions come from this ancient Spiritual practice. With a Yule log as the center of our Circle we will meditate together, sing Yule songs and share in the joy of the Winter season. We will honor the sacred wisdom and strength in all of us to survive and renew our Spirit through each turn of the Seasons. Join us as we remind each other to respect and honor the gifts of Earth and life itself, especially it's material blessings and simple happinesses. After the Circle Ritual, we'll enjoy holiday treats brought by all who participate. Come if you can and leave when you must! For more information, please email [email protected]."
THE CHRISTMAS REVELS
AN APPALACHIAN CELEBRATION OF THE WINTER SOLSTICE
4 East Wheelock Street
Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH 03755603.646.2422Through December 16
https://hop.dartmouth.edu/Online/christmas_revels_2013Join Revels North in celebrating the shortest day of the year with a spectacular journey to Southern Appalachia, where Native American, African and European traditions combine in astonishing music, dance and folktales. More than 75 talented local adult and child singers and dancers are joined by singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Pete Sutherland, formerly of the folk trio Metamora; Ontario-based old-time music duo Sheesham & Lotus; and North Carolina-based singer Suzannah Park, of Village Harmony and the Starry Mountain Singers.
Winter Solstice serviceFirst Church in Boston, Unitarian UniversalistMarlborough at BerkleyBoston
"Usher in the season with our Winter Solstice service on 12/19 at 6 PM featuring world renowned harpist Aine Minogue!"
Check the websites of your local Unitarian Universalist parish. Services we are aware of:
From The First Church in Belmont, Unitarian Universalist: "Our scheduled service for Dec 22 at 7pm is:(Multigenerational) THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS Today, in many manifestations, we celebrate the victory of goodness over evil, of life over death, of light over darkness. We will light Kwanzaa, Advent, Hanukkah and Solstice candles.https://www.facebook.com/uubelmontWaltham First Parish's is at 4p on the 21st."
From First Parish of Watertown: "We are having ours Sunday the 22nd at 7pm. Waltham First Parish's is at 4p on the 21st."https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Parish-of-Watertown/195737317133660
THE SHORTEST DAY
BY SUSAN COOPER 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 evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive,And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty 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, fest, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!!
