I fell in love for the first time in July – there were fireworks (literal and figurative) and I wanted nothing more in my whole thirteen years of living than to kiss that boy. Growing up in a small Atlantic Canadian province I hold snapshots of summer in my memory – the soundtrack  ‘Patio Lanterns’ by Kim Mitchell. I remember the glee, the novelty of endless summer days with no schedule and plunging into the cold Atlantic Ocean. If summer is remembered in snapshots and slips of songs, winter is bone deep in the spine of my childhood. 

A maritime winter is long and cold and treacherous. You layer up starting in October and you don’t unpeel yourself until around May. Snow is all around but so is salt. Not the small, clean looking table salt, it’s road or rock salt. The big, brown rock salt is laid down on the plowed roads, the shoveled sidewalks, eating away at the undercarriage of your car, stuck to your boots. It makes the snow turn brown and muddy-looking long before the ground has thawed. Winter can sometimes be a drag.

The Magic Of Winter

Of course, winter is also magical – and the world really does look new with a fresh layer of snow. There is something enchanting about crunching through the snow at night, the world muted by layers of insulating snow.

It sparkles in the moonlight; did you know that? You’re exhaling the warm air and it puffs around you like smoke and the whole world is white and still and iridescent. You feel your own smallness, your own fragile body immersed in this frigid air so cold if you ran your lungs would burn with it.

I’m living in Texas now and because of COVID I haven’t been able to travel home this Christmas. The year 2020 has been chock full of fun hasn’t it?

All that to say…I have been feeling nostalgic this holiday season and have combed the internet to find the best ‘snow’ themed poems in the universe, for you. Well, for me too, but now I’m sharing with you!

Getting Cozy

But let’s do this right shall we? Go make a mug of hot chocolate with those small marshmallows that puff up soft and melty, or your favorite peppermint latte and a warm blanket. I’ll wait! I’m breaking off teeth shattering pieces of the gingerbread house we decorated. That’s okay to eat right?

Allright. Ready? Cozy? Okay read away my friends.

The Best ‘Snow-Themed’ Poems In The Universe

Stopping By Woods On a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

The Snow by Emily Dickinson

Snow-Flakes by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Snow Shower by William Cullen Bryant

Winter-Time by Robert Louis Stevenson

Spellbound by Emily Brontë

The Bells by Edgar Allen Poe

Angela Yeh hails from Atlantic Canada but lives and works in Texas – after her liberal arts degree she wandered into Corporate America but managed to escape. She is a staunch advocate for writers and literacy/learning with her online writing community at DIYMFA.com. She also teaches a love of creative gardening to pre-k kids in her physical community. She lives with her husband, two lovely human children, and two cranky fur babies. You can check her out on Insta – @thatpluckygirl or at her website, www.thepluckycanadian.com

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If you and your story live within the Judeo-Christian tradition, you’ll no doubt have a good handle on Christmas and Hanukkah. But, for Christmas in particular, how did some of the traditions we now think of as universal come into being? Evergreens, holly, and mistletoe came from the ancient Celtic and Druid traditions. The yule log came from the Scots. The word Yule itself comes from ancient Norse folk who viewed the sun as a circular disk around which people’s lives revolved, and the winter solstice as the renewal of that circle, bringing more light back into the world.

Epiphany (in western Christianity) or Eastern Orthodox Christmas is thought to have evolved from the ancient Egyptian calendar, in which the solstice occurred on that date.

And don’t forget the celebration of the Feast of Saint Lucia. Originally just a festival of lights in the Norse world, it’s been incorporated into the Christian tradition, retaining its devotion to light but adding the dedication to the Christian martyr.

Not every story will be within these traditions, though, so getting the celebrations right for other times and other cultures might require a bit more research. Here are some things to get you started.

Winter Solstice Traditions from Around the World

Dong zhi

Thought to have originated as an end-of-harvest festival, it’s a time for Chinese families to gather together and celebrate the year they have had

Inti Raymi

The Incan winter solstice celebration of the sun god that included feasts and sacrifices. It was banned by the Spanish conquerors but revived in the 20th century (without the sacrifices), so getting the timing right for your story is important. Another important aspect of getting the timing right is to remember that Peru is in the southern hemisphere – so the winter solstice occurs in June.

Saturnalia

The ancient Roman celebration of the solstice and the end of the harvest season. It included several days of games, feasts, and gift-giving and may be the ancient holiday most closely associated with Christmas. Interestingly, during Saturnalia, slaves were actually given time off and were treated as equals to their masters.

Soyal

Celebrated by the Hopi people to welcome the kachinas, the protective spirits from the mountains. The rituals include purification, dancing, and sometimes gift-giving.

Yalda

The Persian celebration of the victory of light over dark and the birthday of the sun god, Mithra

Korochun

While most of these festivals celebrate light – not unexpected on the longest night of the year – there’s an interesting variation in the Slavic celebration of Korochun. On this day, Hors, the sun, dies, defeated by the powers of the Black God. But the sun is resurrected the following day as Koleda, the new sun. On Korochun, celebrants may light fires in cemeteries to keep their ancestors warm.

This is far from a definitive catalog of winter solstice celebrations. My objective was only to inspire. No matter what era or place in the world, people have been celebrating at this time of year since ancient times. And as writers, we can have our characters celebrate properly for the time and place in which they live.

Pamela Taylor’s inspiration for her first book turned out to be that final straw that pushed her to leave the corporate world behind for the world of words and imagination. Now an author and an editor, she loves helping others polish their stories almost as much as she enjoys writing her own. She’s a member of the DFW Writers Workshop and the Editorial Freelancers Association and recently completed her third year on the judges panel for the Ink & Insights Contest. You can learn more about her at https://pamela-taylor.com  and about her editing services at editing4you.com. 

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