Gwen Snyder is uncivilDec 21
Reflecting on winter solstice themes is a strange jaunt this year because we are in such a cold political winter right now. Not a time with a whole lot of flowers or sunshine or harvest to be had
Show threadGwen Snyder is uncivil
There's Mamdani and there's anti-ICE resistance and those are the two bright colors out in our political wilds for the moment as best I can think. Pretty grim, otherwise.
Dec 21 at 12:05amWeb
Show threadGwen Snyder is uncivilDec 21
I think it's useful to take winter solstice as a time to remember buried energy, to appreciate what we've stored away and protected. Nourishment, seeds for a coming spring.
Show threadGwen Snyder is uncivilDec 21
Spring always comes. How do we keep ourselves and our spirits (and our comrades, and their spirits) fed and warm until it does? What will we be prepared to plant when the ground thaws?
Show threadGwen Snyder is uncivilDec 21
We protect ourselves and our seeds for the future. We remind ourselves of and practice that protection with interior light and warmth And with light and warmth, we celebrate the audacity of survival in winter.
Show threadGwen Snyder is uncivilDec 21
I've realized that this solstice time (and its accompanying celebrations of light) is unusually meaningful to me this year. It is because this is a political moment where I yearn for more lights in the dark. I *need* to celebrate the ones that remain.
Show threadAaronDec 21

@gwensnyder.bsky.social I saw this post in isolation and was about to post how it could be taken metaphorically. But I'm happy to see that was the original intent. :)

Spring always comes.

I will be saying this to myself a lot now.

Show threadTess ArnoldDec 21
@gwensnyder.bsky.social An important thing to remember about the Winter Solstice is that, way back before Christianity became the default religion for Western Europeans, the folk who gave us something like our modern, western version of winter celebrations did not think of Winter they way we do now. To them, Winter was not death.
Winter was pregnancy.
The gestational dormancy before birth.
Winter is the time when new things grow unseen.
I find hope in that.