Ale Before The Sun Returns!

Date: Thursday, December 4 @ 7:00pm
Location: Strange Craft Beer Company
Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83219357817
Curriculum: https://www.brewtheology.org/weekly-meetings/2025/12/4/ale-before-the-sun-returns-celebrating-winter-solstice
Password: brew

Let us enjoy Ale Before The Sun Returns!

The winter solstice has long been a time of rich ritual, story, and spirituality across cultures. As the longest night of the year, it is a cosmic hinge-point: the darkness reaches its depth, and the slow return of the light begins. For agrarian and pre-industrial people especially, this transition was both practical and spiritual, symbolizing survival, renewal, and cosmic order. Much like raising a pint together on a dark night, solstice rituals invited people to gather, share warmth, and look forward to the light’s return. Varied historical traditions highlight how different cultures celebrated this liminal moment. We will discuss a number of them this week.

Together, the many solstice traditions show how humans across time have met the longest night with fire, feasting, story, and prayer. The solstice is not only about surviving winter, but about affirming that darkness and light are bound together in the cycle of renewal. This also gives us an opportunity to consider how humanity is situated within the cycles of the earth's seasons. Just as our ancestors raised a horn of mead or a cup of ale in the darkest hours, tonight we too can share a drink in good company — waiting together for the sun to return, ha!