The Longest Night and the Rebirth of the Sun

It's the Winter Solstice today, the start of the Yule season, and that means it's a time of regeneration for my ancestors: the Norse. Evergreen trees, Santa Clause, mistletoe, the ham, the gifts- all of it is Norse in origin and appropriated by other cultures much later. Without that original context, most of the symbols and rituals lose their potency and become pointless. Count this among other things I'm making the effort to reconnect to in the years to come: the culture from which I come, the nation to which I belong, the way that brings order to chaos and harmony to existence for me and mine- and served as the basis for the single greatest civilization known to Mankind.

And I find that there is one amongst them that calls out to me more than the others: Tyr.



I'll let Lana of Radio 3Fourteen explain it further. (Hint: It's okay when SJWs appropriate Western Civilization.)


Merry Yule. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year.