Winter Solstice in the Ozarks

Solstice traditions are hard to find in the Ozarks apart from some signs of upcoming winter
weather, but it’s a time of the year I’ve tried reviving in my own life. On this day we celebrate
the dying and reviving of the Sun, the vital life force of our lives. Ancient traditions would have
been centered on celebration, especially through bringing together of harvested foods for
feasting and the all important terrestrial representation of the Sun in the fire.

Personal Purification

I gather purifying plants like red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) throughout the year for use in
healing work. The winter solstice is a time of cleansing and preparing the body for the
upcoming year. This is most often performed with smoke and water. I always try and make a
fire, however small, to which I offer boughs of dried red cedar and tobacco, both solar in
nature. The smoke cleanses off the worldly weights carried throughout the year. To this I add a
bath made from red cedar, of course, tobacco, a few varieties of the Monarda genus (for
loosening ties with draining spirit entities), as well as rabbit tobacco (Pseudognaphalium
obtusifolium) which can also be smoked as an aid to protection work.

A tradition added to the corpus of knowledge in the Ozarks from the indigenous peoples of the
southeast (including Cherokee, Yuchi, Muskogee, and others) is that all the evergreens hold
immense power because of their ability to stay awake during all the days of creation. This time
of the year we bring in our evergreen friends to bless our homes and we use their smoke to
fumigate our bodies as an act to bolster ourselves for upcoming trials of the new year.

Food Traditions

The winter solstice is a time of feasting, a tradition that has been moved to Christmastime, but
one I keep on the solstice as well. The past few years I’ve taken to making one of my favorite
treats, mincemeat. It’s a combination of ingredients from the recent harvest like apples and
pears, as well as dried fruits gathered earlier in the year. For me it’s a perfect representation of
nourishment and renewal. It brings together all the elemental representations of earth, in the
form of fruits, of air by the steam of cooking, the fire through baking, and water by the addition
of liqueurs, especially brandy. Together this amalgam of ingredients staves off hunger and
warms the body, an important remedy in Ozark folk healing to prevent the winter chills to
come.

Folklore

There’s a story I always like to tell this time of the year. One with no doubt many hidden
meanings for those with ears to hear. It’s on of the Jack tales, focused on the solar figure of
Jack, a trickster and wizard in his own right, who in this tale represents the Sun, (the warmth of
hearth and home) overcoming the encroaching power of winter and the dreaded cold.
Storytelling was an important past time in the winter. With the short days and cold weather,
hillfolk would spend a lot longer indoors. This was time for home crafts like sewing, carving tool
handles, and telling tall tales.

“Jack and the Stranger”

Once upon a time Jack was visiting his kinfolks down in Greenbrier Holler. Every year, at the
winter solstice, Jack’s aunt and uncle would have a big party at their cabin to fight off the cold,
and they would have all the families from the holler over for a night of eatin’ and dancin’ and
general merriment.

Well the much anticipated night rolled around again and Jack’s aunt and uncle’s cabin was full
of kin and friends from all around the hills. Despite the snow and bitter cold a band showed up
to play, and folks were dancin’ and having a good ole time when all of a sudden a knock comes
at the door. Jack went over and opened the door and an old man stood there holding a banjo in
one hand and an old rucksack in the other. “How do sir?” The old man asked. “Couldn’t be
better if I was in a barrel of gold!” Jack replied. “If you would permit me,” the old man said, “I’d
play you this here banjo for some food and a bed to rest my head?

Well Jack was the kind of person that would give a polecat a bed to sleep in, so he brought the
old man into the cabin, sat him down by the fire, and loaded him up a plate of beans and
cornpone. “Everyone!” Jack yelled, “Our guest is gonna play us a song.”
The crowd quieted down while the old man warmed the skin of the banjo beside the fire. He
strummed a few notes then started playing just about the prettiest song Jack had ever heard.

Well pretty soon Jack was starting to feel sleepy. “It must have been the good food and good
dancin’.” He thought to himself. So he leaned himself up against the wall to listen to that pretty
ballad plucked by their guest. “I’ll just shut my eyes a spell.” He thought, and as his eyes closed
he saw everybody else in the room start laying out on beds and couches and some people were
flat out on the wood floor. Everyone hushed up and started dozin’ off.
The old man sang some words, but Jack could barely make them out:

This song I…yer head…fine…yer house…yer gold…

Jack woke up suddenly to the smell of a fire, and looking around folks were in a tizzy running
out of the smoke filled cabin. Jack jumped up and ran out into the yard with the rest of his folks.
It was broad daylight outside, “We must have slept through the night!” Jack said to his aunt.
Jack’s uncle said it must have been that stranger that they’d invited in, but Jack and his aunt
hushed the man sayin’ it was always bad luck to turn away a stranger.

A year passed by and the party night was here already. Jack and his kinfolks had lit the bonfires
and were celebrating with plenty of food and dancin’ in his aunt and uncle’s brand new cabin.
Just as Jack started dancin’ with pretty Margaret from up the holler, a knock came at the door
to the cabin. Jack rushed over and there standing in the doorway was an old beggar woman
carrying a reed flute in one hand and a worn out potato sack in the other. “A fine night sir!” The
old woman said. “A fine night!” Jack replied. “If you would permit me,” the old woman said, “I’d
play you this here flute for some food and a bed to rest my head?”

Despite the protests from Jack’s uncle, he invited the old woman inside the cabin, sat her down
by the fire, and loaded her up a plate of beans and cornpone. “Everyone!” Jack yelled, “Our
guest is gonna play us a song.”

The old woman took out her long reed flute and started playing the prettiest melody Jack had
ever heard. Pretty soon he and the other guests were plumb tuckered out and everyone took a
seat on chairs or on the floor. Some lay out under blankets, others piled up in the corners of the
cabin, pretty soon everyone was fast asleep.

The old woman started to sing some words, but again Jack could barely make them out:

This song I…yer head…fine…yer house…yer gold…

Jack woke up to a similar scene as he had the year before. The cabin was all full of smoke and
everyone was running around like headless turkeys trying to get out of the place. Out in the
yard Jack’s uncle was a-ravin’ and a-rantin’ about the stranger they’d dare let into their house
again. Jack’s aunt hushed the man up telling him that no one should be left out in the cold.

Well Jack helped his aunt and uncle build their cabin again for a whole year. They were fast
approaching the party night and Jack was sure to not let anything bad happen this time. So he
went up the holler to old Mr. Green’s cabin. Everyone said that old Mr. Green was a witch but
nobody ever dared call him that, and Jack always figured the man was probably just more wise
to the ways of the world than anybody else was.

Jack told the old conjurer about what had happened the last two years and Mr. Green told him
not to worry then handed him an old hatchet. “What’s this for?” Jack asked. “Jack,” Mr. Green
replied, “you make sure your aunt and uncle has their party, and when that beggar comes to
the house you let them in, feed them, set them there by the fire, and when they play their song
you hold that hatchet up to your head and it will make sure you won’t fall asleep, but you have
to close your eyes and act like you’re asleep like the others.”

Jack took the axe and knew exactly what he had to do. He rushed back to his aunt and uncle’s
cabin and set them to cleaning and cooking for the party they were sure to have that evening.

Around midnight and everyone was a-rompin’ and a-dancin’ and having the nicest time, when
there come a knock at the door to the cabin. Jack rushed over and there in the doorway stood a
little orphan child with a fiddle in one hand and a handkerchief sack in the other. “Please sir,”
the child said in a soft voice, “if you’d let me, I’d play you this here fiddle for some food and a
bed to rest my head?”

Jack just smiled and brought the child into the house. He sat him right there by the fire, and
gave him plenty to eat just like Mr. Green had said, then quieted everyone in the cabin down.
“Go ahead and play somethin’ fer us.” Jack said.

The orphan boy took out his fiddle and started playing the nicest, prettiest song any of them
had ever heard, and as the crowd started getting sleepier and sleepier Jack quickly sat down
over on one wall and hid himself behind some flour sacks. He held the hatchet up to his head
and even though he had his eyes closed he didn’t fall asleep like the others.

Pretty soon the boy began to sing and this time Jack heard the words:

This song I play,

When the boy was finished playing Jack opened his eyes just a little bit to see him taking off his
skin like it was a coat, and there underneath was a strange feathery critter with a face like a
possum, with hands like owl claws, and feet like two goat legs. The critter quickly set to
gathering up all the coins and jewelry from the pockets of the guests asleep and snoring there
on the floor. Then Jack saw him go over to where his uncle hid all the family loot tucked in
behind a rock on the mantle and he pocketed that too!

Jack quietly got to his feet and crept up behind the critter while he was busy stuffing all the
money and gold into his handkerchief sack. And just as the beast was about to spit fire out and
burn the cabin down Jack went SWISH! SWISH! with the hatchet a cut the critter’s head clean
off.
The next morning Jack’s aunt and uncle and all their kinfolks started waking up and much to
their surprise the sun was shining and the cabin was still in one piece. “This year’s party,” Jack’s
uncle said, “was a mighty success I reckon!” And Jack’s aunt asked him where’d their stranger
had gone to, but Jack just told her that the boy had played and played before Jack let him sleep
up in the loft, then, this morning, a nice preacher and his wife came and took the boy to live at
their house.

To this day Jack never did mention that strange critter to his aunt and uncle, never did say
nothing about talking to Mr. Green, nor about the magic hatchet.
“Best not worry them.” Jack thought to himself.