Winter solstice

Already there are winners on stage, Matt O'Kine, but we're about to welcome some other legends to the stage, some people who will be DJing here tonight in what is officially their very first DJ set.

They turned 18, all of them, on the Winter Solstice this year.

Please give it up for Birdlands! Go on, the boys are making their way to stage.

We only have two stools, but there are three of them identical triplets here for your raving pleasure.

So this is Az's bonus chapter in A Silver Flame.

It's winter solstice, everyone's gone to bed after the solstice party, and they have this snowball fight tomorrow morning.

Az couldn't sleep, even though the shadows definitely wanted him to.

He was feeling envious of his brothers and their mates.

It's a season of reflection, rest, renewal, and understanding the natural cycles of life.

And one of the most important events during this season is the winter solstice.

So today we're going to talk about what the winter solstice actually is, what Yule means, some of the traditions associated with this time of year, and how you can bring a little seasonal magic into your home without making things complicated.

Because remember, you don't need an elaborate altar or a closet full of witchcraft supplies to celebrate the seasons.

Sometimes the simplest traditions are the most meaningful.

So let's get into it.

What is the winter solstice? First, let's talk about that.

The winter solstice happens once a year, usually around December 21st or 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere.

I like Avatar Roku.

I just remember one of the first times when I was a kid, when I was watching Avatar, that I was super like, oh my god, I need to lock in for every episode, was the first two-parter, the Winter Solstice one.

where they go to that temple, and then Avatar Roku, Aang projects his spirit or something because of the solstice, and he just starts firebending and shit, and it's awesome.

That was sick.

A few months after the war has wrapped up, everyone's kind of settled in.

They're going to have their first winter solstice.

It's now like Farrah, Reese, Elaine, and they're all like living at the townhouse.

Nesta has gotten this like squalor apartment in Volaris and like the shittiest part Cassie and I were at the house and everyone's starting to feel a little like overcrowded like happy and content they're getting ready to set up and like it starts with like Farrah and Cassie and getting drunk and trying to like decorate and everyone's like who let Farrah and Cassie decorate like it's just like a pile of needles on the floor like they're horrible at it Asriel tries to, like, fix the decorations before anyone else gets home, and they're just like, no.

This is Samhain, the Celtic New Year.

It falls halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice, opening the three darkest months of the year, November, December and January, with the winter solstice at their centre.

At this time, the waning sun, the giver of life and light, was seen to be dying and as it waned, the boundary between life and death thinned with it.

It is known as the turning point of the farming year.

Yeah.

feel a little bit more I don't know what I'm trying to say here I it's like I can see it in a way that when I absolutely do see something similar though with Asriel and Elaine like on Winter Solstice and how She made him laugh with her gift for him and how there's this ease between them that we were really noting in, I'll say, Akawar specifically.

And that was so beautiful to see too.

And so when we do look at ultimately who they will end up with, we really don't care.