Seasonal Interviews - Celebrating the Winter Solstice with Lia Leendertz
The winter solstice will be celebrated this weekend, astronomically this is when one of the earth’s poles have their maximum tilt away from the sun, creating the shortest day of the year. This happens twice a year, once in each hemisphere. One of the oldest recorded festivities, the winter solstice or Yule, is celebrated by pagans at the first sunrise after this astronomical event has occurred and is seen by many as a time of self reflection, renewal and rebirth. To celebrate this winter solstice, I interviewed writer Lia Leendertz.
Lia is a regular contributor to the Garden, Gardens Illustrated, the Guardian, the Telegraph, and more, and the author of The Almanac book series.
First published in 2018, The Almanac revives the tradition of the rural almanac, connecting you with the months and seasons via moon-gazing, foraging, feast days, seasonal eating, meteor-spotting and gardening.
I have bought a copy each year, and love the facts, inspiration and Lia’s knowledge that is shared within these beautifully illustrated books to help inspire seasonal and slow living.
It is such an honour to include Lia, an advocate of seasonal living, in my Seasonal Interview Series and I was fortunate enough to find out how she would be spending this magical winter solstice time.
The December chapter from The Almanac 2019
The December full moon illustrated in honest seed heads.
Quince and hazelnut mincemeat, a recipe in The Almanac 2018
What does the winter solstice mean to you?
It means hope, and that the darkest days will pass. We think we are insulated from the change in the seasons, with our central heating and our electric lights, but we’re not. Winter is still hard. There is plenty to love about it but part of what is good about it is that it doesn’t last forever, and easier times will come. Midwinter is the turning point and I love it for that.
How would you normally celebrate this day?
I think it’s so easy to miss the winter solstice amid the madness of the run up to christmas, but I try to put aside a bit of time. I get outdoors if I can but if not there has to be a fire and candles and a little bit of time to myself.
Bannister foliage with a robin
Pierniczki w czekoladzie, from a recipe in The Almanac 2019
Holly wreath on Lia’s front door
What are your favourite things about this time of year?
I’ve always been a summer person and part of the reason I started writing the almanac is that I wanted to pay more attention to the rest of the year, and learn to appreciate it. And it’s working! I have realised recently that I do most walks in winter, and that I really love the countryside when it is bare and bleak, with its shimmers of purple branches and brown ploughed earth. The colours are so subtle and the light can be beautiful and soft. I like wrapping up warm and getting out there, and not waiting for summer.
What are you looking out for in your garden during these colder months?
The garden is pretty quiet at this time of year but I’ve recently put garlic and broad beans into the vegetable beds and seeing their new shoots feels really hopeful and lovely. And of course the snow drops comes along just after Christmas, they always seem to be there to greet me after the lull of the Christmas week, a sure sign that spring is coming.
A drawing of the Gemini constellation found in the December skies.
Identifying trees from their twigs.
The spring tide falling in December
What are your favourite dishes to prepare in the kitchen during winter?
It is all about Christmas now so there are lots of cheeses and pickles in the house for picking at by the fire over Christmas films, and the odd box of chocolates. But the rest of the time it’s lots of braised lentils and roast squash and cosy things like that. And always a crumble on Sunday nights.
What do you find are the greatest benefits to living seasonally?
I actually think it’s mostly about learning to be happy with the here and now, a bit of mindfulness if you like. It’s about living in the moment, however unpromising that is. Sometimes it means big spectacular things like bluebell woods and skylarks ascending and Christmas puddings, but it could just as easily be that cosy feeling you get when you’ve come in from a rainy day and changed into your slippers and made a cup of tea. It’s about not always yearning for summer, and recognising that there is something special about every moment in the year.
An advent candle
Baking a Christmas cake
A crib decoration
Find out more about Lia and her work via her instagram feed.