Meyer's Suggestions for a Heathen Holiday No. 1

Greetings, gentle readers! Now I'm no Martha Stewart (I lack tits and a prison record), and I doubt you'll see my seasonal suggestions on her program (although I'd love it...she is a GILF!), but I'll try my hand anyway at some advice for those who may want to celebrate the solstice in style.

Well, you may not be aware of it, but the chances are good that you already are celebrating your "Christmas" in the true fashion of a Nordic heathen. That tree that you've kindly decorated with lights is not exactly something that semitic shephards would have schlepped to a manger. It is rather a mini-representation of the cosmos, a little Yggdrasil if you will, an axis mundi brought into your home. Trees were sacred to the Germanic pagan, and bringing a bit of green into the home was a way to bring that holiness into the home. And because the ancient solstice celebrations are essentially a celebration of the return of the sun from its wintery grave (the darkness begins to recede after December 21st), these boughs of greenery are bedecked with light, originally in the form of quite dangerous and yet extremely beautiful candles, and now usually with electric lights in a variety of forms and colors.

How can you make the erection of the holiday tree in your home more memorable? Folks, here are my suggestions. First, disavow any idea of an artificial tree. What kind of sacrifice, other than monetary, is involved in that? When then considering a real tree, the question arises of origin and purpose. My personal favorite, since it take real commitment, is acquiring a real tree which will eventually be planted. This requires a place for you to plant, and in my current condition as an apartment dweller, does not work, outside of perhaps getting a Norfolk Island pine and keeping the tree inside. But if you have the space, prepare the hole for eventually planting your tree outside before the ground freezes, storing the excavated soil in the garage for later. After the holiday celebrations are complete, you can have a small ceremony as the tree is planted in your backyard or other location. And, after a few years, you could have a small, symbolic forest of Yules past.

Now if a live tree is not an option, then cutting your own at a tree farm or on private land is the next best thing. Please don't be a redneck asshole like the people who decimated the once beautiful Evergreen Corner west of Exira, Iowa, by cutting down these trees for their personal use! Cutting the tree involves the taking of life, and the taking of life is something we do everyday. We all eat. Even if you are a vegetarian, you are killing some wheat, a few tomatoes, a stalk of celery and a head of lettuce. In the pagan worldview, it's all sacred. There's not some hierarchical table putting man at the top and the rest of creation down to bacteria on the bottom. That being said, we all accept the sacrifice of other life, at least vegetable if not animal, for our continued existence. The cutting of this tree is a sort of sacrifice as well, although it is not completely necessary, as I mention above. But if you go this route, a ceremony of sacrifice is a good way to appease the gods as you take the life of the tree. What kind of ceremony should this be? My favorite source on the subject is Wolf-Dieter Storl's book, Naturrituale, or Nature Rituals, unfortunately currently available only in German. But from his suggestions, your ritual should at the least contain some incense burning (perhaps obtained from the branches, needles or pitch of the tree itself), creating a sacred space around the tree, songs or chants to ask the spirit (which he calls the deva) of the tree if this sacrifice may be made (you may get "No!" for an answer!), cutting and thereby sacrificing the tree, and then leaving something meaningful in thanks to the deva in return. The most appropriate gift may be a seedling for another tree to take its place, but in the case of commercial tree farms, that is not really necessary, as they do this as a matter of fact. Should the tree be taken from private ground, then it is your responsibility. Your tree sacrifice ritual can be your own creation, as we don't have any as such handed down. (There is a documented account of ritual misteltoe harvesting by Druids, however, cut with a golden sickle and landing on a white cloth, so the idea of such a ceremony is not misplaced.) Storl's ritual structure is taken from age-old, mythological constructs, practiced by pagans since time immemorial, so you are on solid ground.

As a last resort, you may get your tree from the local Home Depot, OBI Baumarkt or corner seller. I don't recommend chanting around these tree corpses with incense, but as you bring this or one of the aforementioned types of tree into your home, a ceremony for setting it up and welcoming it would be appropriate. How was this done in ancient times? We don't know. All we have are bits of folklore and tradition, but as is seen in the proliferation of Christmas carols today, it was likely done with singing. Incense can also perform the duty in creating your sacred space. As a matter of fact, the Germanic tradition contains the tradition of the Rauhnächte, literally "Raw Nights", but possibly formerly "Rauch-Nächte" or "Smoke Nights", where Haus und Hof were ceremonially smoked with incense during the twelve days of Yule, purifying the home against evil and protecting it from Wotan's Wild Hunt raging outside. This tradition is still practiced today in some Alpine valleys and is evident in the continued use of the term Rauhnächte in German. Decorate your tree with love and light to rejoice in their return at the solstice.

After the holiday, disposing of your tree in a responsible manner such as recycling allows it rejoin the never-ending cycle of birth-life-death-decay and rebirth. Or keep it around until the pagan celebrations around the beginning of February, corresponding to Candlemas, and let it be engulfed in the flames of a bonfire, the ashes of which can fertilize the ground of spring.

May your miniature Yggdrasil bring you and yours much joy this holiday season. God Jul!