2022 - WINTER ❄️🎄🌟 ⛄️ - THOUGHTS OF THE SEASON - AN ARTIST’S PERSPECTIVE
2022 - WINTER
THOUGHTS OF THE SEASON - AN ARTIST'S PERSPECTIVE
Hello everyone, and Advent/Yule/Saturnalia/Solstice/Christmas Greetings 🎄🌟 🪵
We’re only just into December, with 1st December heralding both the official start of Winter (meteorologically speaking) and the beginning of the festivals leading up to the Winter Solstice and Christmas.
Our ancestors celebrated this time in many different ‘pagan’ ways, even long before the now recognised Christian traditions, with many of the ways we now celebrate Christmas having pagan roots. I won’t go into all of these here, as the information is very well documented in books and online, but thought I’d just pop this short paragraph in, copied from the website www.history.com.
“Saturnalia, held in mid-December, is an ancient Roman pagan festival honoring the agricultural god Saturn. Because of when the holiday occurred—near the winter solstice—Saturnalia celebrations are the source of many of the traditions we now associate with Christmas, such as wreaths, candles, feasting and gift-giving. Saturnalia, the most popular holiday on the ancient Roman calendar, derived from older farming-related rituals of midwinter and the winter solstice, especially the practice of offering gifts or sacrifices to the gods during the winter sowing season..” ~ from History.com
Such rich traditions we have! And as an artist, an equally rich array of inspirational images to draw upon when painting new artwork. From festive trees, baubles, candles, snowmen, robins and Santa, to snow covered fields, mountain tops and frosty forests! And my favourite of all is a snowy landscape. That’s going to be the theme of my next painting - my Winter 2022 offering - paper is taped to my board now, ready to start.
So sit back, relax, and enjoy the coming festivals - the dark days before Christmas and the coming of the winter solstice, when the light begins to return. It doesn’t matter how much or how little we have materially, as long as we have the warmth of love around us from family and friends. With that, we are rich indeed.