The 1997 Covenant of the Goddess (COG) Yule festival was held at the Masonic Temple, located in the Queen Anne district of Seattle, on December 20. This year's festivities were facilitated by the local Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD) and included activities scheduled throughout the entire day and evening.
I arrived for the later events with my four-year-old daughter. We had a wonderful experience at the COG Yule 1996, and I was confident this year would follow suit. The Masonic Temple offers an ideal space for this type of event, with a large room for ritual space and good kitchen facilities.
The potluck was truly a holiday feast, with all sorts of hot dishes, salads and desserts, eagerly devoured by all of the attendees.
Even as this time of year is that of longest darkness, it is celebrated also for the return of the light, seen as the birth of the Sun. It's an appropriate time to honor children and the future, and I was delighted to see so many kids running about and having a good time. After the meal, the children were gathered into the middle of the dining room for an anticipated visit by Santa Lucia. Most often represented as a Teutonic form of Bridget, Santa Lucia appears as a woman in white robes with candles ablaze in her hair.
All of the lights were turned down, and from the back of the room the ritualist as Santa Lucia appeared, although with white electric lights instead of candles in her hair, for obvious safety reasons. In the dim lights, she was truly enchanting, carrying a large basket from which she handed out gifts to the children. Extra gifts brought by the adults were to be donated to local charities.
The evening ritual followed. The Yule festival is often expressed through the apparent loss or death of the Sun, which is reborn at the Winter Solstice. This ceremony is known in this Druid tradition as "Alban Arthuan," the Light of Arthur, where Arthur is representative of the Sun (Son) God who dies and is reborn. It was my first experience in a Druidic rite, and I was fascinated by the contrast of this tradition to other Wiccan and pagan traditions with which I am more familiar.
All gathered deosil in circle. In this ceremony, the ritualists numbered five, each in their blue tabards signifying that they were operating as Bards. There were altars set up at the traditional directions, with a Bard placed in front of each. There was great emphasis placed on the calling of the directions and their balance, as each Bard spoke in turn, calling each quarter and lighting each quarter altar candle. Once the quarters/elements/directions were called in, the candles were then extinguished, representing the darkness upon us at that time of year. As stated in the ritual, "Let the darkness of the longest day be felt. Only out of darkness does light arise."
At this point, the fifth Bard, as Mabon (representing the Sun God), entered the circle with a new candle flame, from which each of the quarter candles were subsequently lit. Each participant was given a token piece of mistletoe and asked to reflect upon the philosophy that in each death is the beginning of new life. This is a time of newness, and of looking to the future. After additional energy was raised through toning (the vocalizing of musical notes), the quarters were dismissed and the ritual declared closed.
I found the ritual very cerebral. There was very little participation required, as the Bards handled the ceremony, and I felt very much more an observer than a participant. My experience is that in Wiccan or more general pagan traditions, the rituals typically involve a high level of emotional energy. In this Druid tradition, my impression was one of a more intellectual energy. The ritual was nonetheless effective for me personally, as my heart was touched by the beauty of the poetic verse spoken throughout the ceremony. The weight of the ritual was in understanding the meaning of what was symbolically happening, rather than in feeling the emotion evoked in the physical performance of the ritual.
The evening was far from complete, however; in Bardic fashion, anyone who desired to do so was asked to offer a song or poem to share for the group. There was quite a bit of singing, chanting and poetry offered by the Bards and many of the participants, including one small child.
My daughter, exuding a tremendous amount of patience for a four-year-old, had quietly stood by me throughout the whole ceremony. After clapping along with some of the singing and chanting, she turned to me, "Daddy, when is it going to be my turn to sing?"
"Do you want to sing a song?" I asked.
"Yes!"
"Well, go ahead. What do you want to sing?"
"Hmmm... my ABC's," she said.
With that, she offered a polished rendition to the delight of all, particularly her proud dad. And that innocent act purely captured the spirit of the moment, offering a sweet reminder of the value in keeping these rites, for the wheel is ever turning and renewing into the next generation.
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