I. INTRODUCTION

Celebrant
Good morning on this last day of autumn. Our Solstice celebration service will respect a variety of sacred traditions, and we encourage everyone to participate and learn. Our Yule altar contains elements of the central images and mysteries of our festival. Candles for living light. Evergreens- pine, and mistletoe, representing the life of the new year. A leafless branch, to remind us of winter's power. The fruit of the earth: apples, pomegranates- remember the story of Persephone- and gilded nuts. Sacred cave figures depicting the Earth Mother and Sun Child, which we will place outside following our service.

II. LIGHTING OF THE YULE LOG

Youth
Some say "Yule" comes from Old English, Saxon and Norse words meaning "wheel." The ancients saw the turn of the seasons as the turning of the Sacred Wheel of the Year.

Another Youth
Others ascribe the word to a Norse word meaning "to yell," the process by which the ancients called back the wandering sun.

Yet Another Youth
German linguists site the old name for December as "Jol," (pron. "yoll"), hence, "Yule." Preschool leader (from the rear) The preschool class decorated our Yule log, cut from the oak tree, the sacred tree of the Druids. We added gilded evergreen fir to represent the birth of the new year, tied on black ribbon for the death of the old, and used holly, to honor the Holly King. We burn the log to welcome the return of the sun. (They parade in.) (more)

IV. LIGHTING OF THE CHALICE

Another Celebrant (Minister?)
This is the eve of the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. This is the stillness behind motion, when time itself stops; the center which is also the circumference of all. Now darkness triumphs; and yet, gives way and changes into light. We will be awake in the dark. We will call the sun from the womb of night. As we celebrate the solstice we join across time and space all the festivals of light emerging from the dark. May all the yule fires, all the Hanukkah candles, all the Christmas lights the world over- and all the lights we are about to kindle here today- not only brighten the darkness of winter but also brighten the darkness of our hearts. May all these lights- set ablaze by people of good will across the globe- assure us that...please join me:

Congregation
Spring will follow winter, hope will triumph over despair,
Peace will eclipse war, and love will outlast evil.

Celebrant
The light will never die. (She lights the chalice.)

Still Another Youth
At this time we invite everyone to share with us your joys and concerns. If anyone would like to take note of an event this week in your own life or the life of the greater community that has moved you, please come forward, light a candle and share it with us.

Congregants come forward to share.
Our thoughts are with you who have shared, and those present and away who have not. Please take a few moments to meditate on these and your own concerns. May we keep these thoughts forever in our hearts.

Adult Choir
"Something Told the Wild Geese" Hungarian folk song, arranged by K. O'Donovan of Olympia's Daughters

Something told the wild geese it was time to go
Though the fields lay golden, something whispered snow
Leaves were green and stirring berries luster glossed,
But beneath warm feathers something cautioned frost.

V. MYTHOLOGY OF WINTER

Youth leader
The place: A smoky hut somewhere we now call Scandinavia.
The time: About 2000 B.C.

Yorg (disgusted) Winter. Just cold, wet, dark and more dark.

Daagard (fearful) I saw a light a far way off the other night... and I thought it could have been the dawn. But it wasn't... it must have been a ghost!

Ernath (grudgingly) We huddle in our huts, trying to stay warm. We put aside warfare, we only try to survive. Winter imposes peace on us.

Mog Will someone tell us a tale on this long night? Sven, you've just come from the southland. What have you heard?

Explain to the kids that today we will prepare for next week's winter solstice intergenerational program, of which they are a vital part. They will be singing, parading and acting. They will create clay figures to be used on our altar.

Explain that solstice is a time when the earth's orbit is at an extreme- that on June 21, solstice marks the beginning of summer; and on December 21, the beginning of winter, the days actually start to seem to grow longer. The ancient peoples, not understanding the movement of the earth, believed that only by appealing to the gods would the sun return. People still honor changes of the seasons, and have found ways to capture the sense of magic of this time of year.

Read through the parts of the service that directly involve the kids: The seating arrangement- at the front of one section of seats; Handling the gong ringing at the start of the service; Singing "Deck the Hall" with everyone; Acting (movement only) parts in the myth about frost/Pleides story; Singing and parading for "We Are the Dance"

Assign parts for the Pleides story and work it through once or twice.

Explain the solstice cave: The sacred cave is a class project- everyone will help to make the figures that will go in it. We will use clay (like play dough) to make people and animals to put inside the cave, like mothers and babies, any kind of animal or bird, stars, or whatever you like. Next week we will put our figures on a table so everyone can look at them during our service. After the service, we will put them outside in a little cave, made of stones. We'll put evergreen branches around, and light candles. This will remind us that our ancestors had to deal directly with the elements of weather and nature to live so we could live, and we honor and remember them.

Distribute the clay, and encourage the children to make figures on their own. It really doesn't matter how they look; however, we do need at least one mother (Mother Earth) and one baby (Child Sun). Otherwise, they can make birds, snakes, whatever.

Allow time for clean-up and washing. Place the figures aside to dry.