Singing at Winter Solstice

Now is the time when the darkness is deepest. The nights are long, and the further north you live, the more intense the difference is. Winter Solstice brings us to the peak of the power of darkness. As pagans, we know that this darkness is holy. Singing at Winter Solstice, we embrace the value of darkness, and celebrate the coming return of light.

A Winter Solstice Singing Ritual

One of my favorite resources for using music to enrich Solsticetide is A Winter Solstice Singing Ritual (c) 2002 by Julie Forest Middleton and Stasa Morgan-Appel. It’s out of print at present, but the authors plan to release it in digital format in 2022. (Once that happens, I’ll edit this post to reflect where it is available.) You can find it online from used book sellers, such as those who market through Amazon.

Julie Middleton has about 50 print copies left, and you can still buy it direct from her. If you have trouble getting in touch with her, just send us a message and I’ll put you in contact with Julie.

The book is like a ‘ritual in a box’. It includes all the text of the Winter Solstice Singing Ritual, the lyrics to the songs (with sheet music!) a sample program, and many pages of good advice about the logistics of producing the ceremony. It has been used by many groups over the past 20 years. If you’re reading this in 2021, you can attend this ritual online. Two groups that I know of are using this book for their Yule ceremonies. You’re invited! Why not attend it online, and if you like it, order the book and do it yourself next year? Information for both online rituals is available at https://bit.ly/WinterSolsticeCelebrations.

Crafting a Winter Solstice Ritual

The book A Winter Solstice Singing Ritual is a great example of fine ritual crafting. In this article, let’s consider the arc of an effective ritual for singing at Winter Solstice.

Transitioning to Sacred Space

In any ritual, people arrive carrying their day with them. In order to achieve the purpose of the ritual, they need to release mundane concerns and prepare to drop into the sacred. As our authors put it in the book, “the purpose of the ritual is to involve people’s emotions and their souls”. The audience must “enter into the darkness and absorb and get in touch with all parts of what’s going on within themselves” (p.57).

I really appreciate the amount of time Julie and Stasa devote to preparing people for the ritual experience. I’ve found that some rituals rush through this phase. That works against creating a cauldron for deep magic.

In Singing Ritual, some of elements used for the transition into the ritual are:

When the audience enters, they see an altar set up with a single candle burning
A chime sounds to signal the start of the ritual, and is used before each successive segment
A narrator introduces the ritual, helping to orient the audience
The singers process in, singing. The growing sound as they cross the space shifts the energy

The song used is Round and Round. Here’s a version of it by Libana:

The settling-in process continues.

the audience sings along for a few songs, attuning them as a group
there is an opening meditation, helping all present to shift to a calm, receptive state of mind
the singers present a choral piece that introduces themes of the ritual.

If you are designing your own ritual, think about what will work best for your situation for helping participants to shift their state of consciousness. The Singing Ritual was designed to be rehearsed and performed by an ensemble for an audience that may be a mix of pagans and non-pagans. The methods used were chosen for that situation.

In ceremonies in my community, we might enter sacred space by putting on ceremonial clothing, passing through a physical gate, forming a circle, and purifying with incense & salt water. And, of course, by toning or singing! What have you found works for you to transition into ceremonial mind? Let us know in the comments section!

Next, the circle is cast. There’s a reading from Black Elk Speaks, an invocation, and a couple of songs, including Rick Hamouris’ We Are a Circle, which he wrote about in this article here on Pagan Song. Other common elements in pagan practice include holding hands, drawing a circle with a wand or athame and calling in the four directions.

Circle casting marks the boundary between getting ready for ritual, and actually doing the ritual. I’ve seen many creative ways to set the circle. What’s the most effective way you’ve seen circle cast?

Experiencing the Darkness

Julie and Stasa divide the body of the ritual into two parts. First, the darkness is explored, then the light.

Winter darkness is explored in several ways. There are several songs, a responsive reading and a meditation. A narrator reflects on how our ancient ancestors must have felt at this time. The astronomical mechanics are explained. The myth of Kore is introduced, and the difficulty many feel when coping with so many hours of darkness is acknowledged. One of the things that’s really cool about Singing Ritual is that the same chant is used in between these segments: Solstice Chant. The first time, it is sung in unison, the second time in 2-part harmony and the third time in 3-part harmony.

This is an awesome thing to do in any ceremony. Pick a theme song and let it develop over the course of your ritual. In Singing Ritual, the harmony changes. You can also play with dynamics (softer/louder), tempo (slow/fast) voicing (high voices/low voices/all voices) instrumentation (a cappella, with percussion, with pitched instruments) and other musical elements. As the song returns in different forms, its meaning deepens. Plus, all the participants learn it and can join in. It’s a powerful technique.

My band, the Crow Women, have a song that explores the beauty of darkness. It’s Darkness, Holy Be. Marilyn, who wrote the song, talks about it in depth in this blog post. It’s on our third album, Seasons, A Pagan Journey Around the Wheel.

The Growth of Light and Hope

Next the ceremony passes over its fulcrum and the attention shifts from darkness to light. In this challenging era we live in, the ability to draw power from times of darkness and the keep the hope of light alive is crucial. One of my favorite quotes in Singing Ritual comes during this phase of the ritual.

…a year like no other, this was, testing us beyond what we’d ever imagined. Day after day, week after week, we found ourselves growing and becoming sturdy because there was no other choice. And the solstice fire was lit and the candles passed and the light of the new year’s dawning lifted our heavy hearts and brought us brightness and hope.
-Julie Middleton, from A Winter Solstice Singing Ritual (c) 2002

During this part of a Yule ceremony, the mood needs to shift gradually from serious and introspective to bright and joyful.

One element Singing Ritual uses is the story of Kore, an aspect of Persephone. Wendy Rule wrote a wonderful article about the enchanting music she has created about the Kore/Persephone cycle in this post here on Pagan Song. At Winter Solstice, Kore is halfway through her time in the underworld, which began at fall equinox and ends at spring equinox.

The biggest choral piece of the ceremony is an anthem to Kore: Kore Evohe by Schrag and Becker. Here’s a video of a choir performing it. This performance wasn’t part of the Singing Ritual but it gives you a sense of what you can do if you get this book, which includes the sheet music.

Singing Ritual uses candles to bring in the light. I don’t know about you, but I grew up doing the Christmas Eve candlelight service, and the beauty of the growing light as the flame is passed from person to person always touches my heart. Many of the pagan Yule ceremonies I’ve led or attended also used this lovely practice.

Julie and Stasa did the Singing Ritual for 5 years before publishing it as a book, so they have good advice about the logistics of dealing with open flames. Their solution–let people light them and hold them for a while, then collect them in bowls of sand or kitty litter. That way they can stay lit, but leave hands free for clapping during the energetic songs that come next: This Little Light of Mine, Imani and We’ve Got the Power.

Imani is a particular favorite of mine. The Crow Women have used it in our coven ceremonies at various times of the year. The message is rousing, and as a singer and songwriter it truly touches me.

One is for our faith in the music
Two is for our faith in the crowd
Three and four our faith in each other,
That is how we sing out loud.

Music comes when I least expect it
Whispers taking shape and flight,
I keep still and wait for Imani
Faith is everything I write

When I was the Choir Director at a Unitarian Church, I had my choir sing Imani to bring the energy of a church service to a peak. It’s a wonderful piece. Here’s a clip of it being used by a group that was putting on the entire Singing Ritual. Very energetic!

Closure

Just as it’s important to give people time to adjust to being in sacred space, it’s also important to prepare to leave it. A lack of a clear ending is as unsettling as leaving from a visit without saying goodbye.

In the Winter Solstice Singing Ritual, some of the elements that are used in the closing are

a concluding statement by the narrator
the song Carry It Home (“carry it out in the street…”)
a grounding meditation
a reflective reading
a couple of closing songs
a version of “merry meet and merry part and merry meet again”
extinguishing the altar candles
the singers processing out

Those are effective elements for this ritual that is staged as a performance, and many work well for a solo or small group ritual as well. Of course, for most pagan ceremonies, there will be a dismissal of the quarters and the “uncasting” of the circle with a wand or athame. However it is done, symmetry is the key; what was put up must be taken down.

Resources

Of course, I recommend that you get copies of the book A Winter Solstice Singing Ritual. Not only is the ceremony itself well constructed, the supporting materials are very instructive. I can tell that the authors are experienced choir directors and ritualists. The book is like a guide to being a musical priestess. I’m really looking forward to it being released digitally. I’ll be sure to announce that on the Pagan Song/Crow Women FaceBook page when that happens.

Check out the Yule/Winter Solstice page in our Book of Shadows here on Pagan Song to find all our blog posts about this Sabbat, including chant suggestions, a Yule recipe, astrology for the season, and even an article about how to filk a Yule carol.

Pagan songwriters have produced many, many songs about Yule and Winter Solstice. Maybe we’re trying to balance all that Christmas music being piped into our lives. I even wrote one: Long, Long Night. Here’s my Spotify playlist for this season. I add more songs every year and am always happy to find a new song for singing at Winter Solstice.

Cover Photo of frost by Kirill Pershin on Unsplash

For more information about the Crow Women pagan choir, and access to all the blog posts by Alane and the other 9 crowsingers who have written for Pagan Song, you can visit the Crow Women author page here on Pagan Song.

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