’Yule’ Holiday marks the beginning of the Winter Solstice

DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) - Each year, Yule marks the start of the Winter Solstice. It’s a holiday many celebrate across the world, including in the Quad Cities. This year, due to the pandemic, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Quad Cities will celebrate the holiday with a virtual celebration.

Diana Schneider, with the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Quad Cities, planned this year’s virtual ceremony. “It is the day that the sun is reborn, basically so I was raised a pagan, been a practicing since I was a kid so we have a little sun baby underneath our tree so on Monday when we finish our solstice ritual we take him out. So you can kind of see the parallels to Christianity so it’s very much the same kind of idea. So we celebrate the light. So we honor the dark, but we also honor the light coming back, the sun being reborn, and the hope that there will be a spring.”

She notes, while this year has been challenging for many people, she hopes everyone will use this holiday to reflect on both the good and bad. “Yule or Solstice is the longest night of the year. So it is when the light is at its shortest. It’s the longest night of the year and so we celebrate that a lot of times is we focus on okay, today is dark and quiet and still but starting at this point everything, light is coming back. Spring is coming. It’s the first official day of Winter. Marking that the light is going to return. I know it’s been dark and it’s been tired and it’s been a long year so far and knowing that starting from today, the light is coming. So it’s kind of giving you that hope that things are going to get better.”

The virtual celebration will include music, poetry, and time for meditation.

If you would like to attend the virtual celebration, you can visit their website.

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