...to want to celebrate the solstice(s)?

[NomDeOrdinateur]

I've been thinking - my family isn't religious, the December 25th means very little to me (although I'm happy to keep on roasting chickens in its honour), and I don't have/want DC.

However, I bloody hate winter and am always pleasantly surprised when I realise that the solstice has passed as it means that longer evenings and warmer days will be returning soon. It makes me feel hopeful, and it also makes me think about how lucky I am to have electric lighting, heating, warm clothes, and no need to be outside in the cold.

With this in mind, WIBU (or wanky) to start making the solstice a "thing" in my household? I'm only thinking of something like a nice meal with special candles, some good mulled wine/cider, a short walk with DH, and some kind of non-gadgety activity in the evening (board games, reading, guitar playing rather than TV etc). I'd do the same in the summer, but preferably with a BBQ and friends/family .

Ooh Shadows I would dearly love to go there, I've entered a couple of times with no luck. Maybe one day though.

Mogz, I live a stones throw from it. My Granda used to bring us for walks out there, years ago (before there even was a visitor's centre there). It's gorgeous and amazing, even though I drive by it a few times a week, it still amazes me. If you are interested in Newgrange, you should also look in to Knowth and Dowth.

Wow, you're very lucky, it must be an amazing area to live in. I should probably stop procrastinating and just sort myself out a holiday to visit. I've lived near the Fens in the East of England for about a decade now and although there's lots of ancient history here which is very interesting the petrified tree stumps just aren't as impressive and awe inspiring as stone built monuments.

That's more or less my winter solstice, although I add in a couple of friends

NomDeOrdinateur no, he's a grumpy sod! :) Seriously, he's just not interested in any kind of ritual/religious thing, and he doesn't drink anyway. I may offer mulled grape juice instead!

I live in Sweden where they celebrate midsummer on the summer solstice, we make flower crowns, drink snaps, eat strawberry cake and dance around a pole that is shaped like male genitalia. In the winter we celebrate Lucia on the 13th of December so not on the winter solstice but very close. The roundabouts have candles on them usually half buried in snow. The children dress up and have candles in their hair, there are special songs and we eat gingerbread and mulled wine.

I think it is wonderful celebrating the extremes of dark and light, especially here where on tge winter solstice it never properly gets light and on tge summer solstice it never properly gets dark :)

Wow! That Swedish solstice sounds great...I'm sure someone in Britain would have a health and safety meltdown with children wearing candles in their hair!! Do they light the candles in their hair.

Get you down to Brighton for the Burning of The Clocks!
We've been going for years.
We celebrate the solstices and the equinoxes in this house, but I've always felt the Midwinter one is the most uplifting.

And some more here

YANBU. We celebrate the solstices in a low key way and have done for years. In fact we got married on the summer solstice without realising it! We also celebrate Christmas as the more celebrations the better in our house! The solstice means more spiritually to me though.

Celebrate the 25th because that is when the sun comes back, there are three long nights in mid- winter from the 21st until the start of the long days on the 25th.

christmas is very important to us here... still celebrate the solstices though. getting past the winter one is very helpful to my mood. mking a celebtion of the summer one when all is going to get darker is a way of trying not to be so negative.

Some of the schools do use lit candles but you can also buy battery powered ones :)

I have worked in preschools that have children ranging in age from 1-6, they have little candles on the tables at lunch time at tge darkest times of year, it's very cosy but possible not the safest idea!