Happy Solstice!

Saturday is Solstice, the time of year in the Northern Hemisphere where the days start getting longer once again. After the longest night, the sun starts to make its northward journey, bringing light into the land. Each day, a few more minutes of daylight accumulates. This year, Solstice also happens to be a full moon. Surely, a day of good omens! This is the day my husband, children (and now grandchildren) get together to celebrate the season. Apples trees are wassailed, bayberry candles are lit, greenery is placed about the house, presents are exchanged and much feasting is enjoyed. This year, I made bayberry candles from real bayberry wax and beeswax. In a few years, my bayberry bushes will be producing berries of their own and I will be able to make candles from wax I have processed myself. Until then, I have procured real bayberry wax, not the artificially fragranced stuff so prevalent in stores. The folk lore about bayberry candles is:

"Bayberry burned to the socket
Brings food to the table
And gold to the pocket."

Meaning, if you burn a bayberry candle down completely during a night at the holidays, you will get good luck. My mother always had us burn a bayberry candle and the scented smoke would drift across the miles, bringing thoughts of loved ones separated by miles.

Envision something you would like to accomplish as the light returns. Scratch that sentiment or wish into the side of your bayberry candle and light the candle. As the candle burns to the socket, know your wish has been carried to the heavens.

And, don't forget to catch your sweetheart under the mistletoe!

I made the fiber postcard above for my friend, NutMeg, last year for Solstice. May you all have a blessed Yule!