![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chasclifton.com\/graphics\/upthehillyule.jpg?w=625\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
One advantage to living in the hills is that by taking different routes, you can pick the moment of observed solstice sunrise. I could sleep in until nine o’clock and still “drum up the sun” if I took the trail we call “the loop.”<\/p>\n
But the dogs want, need, and demand their morning run, so we go “up the hill” on the Forest Service road, into a sunrise that is already happening.<\/p>\n
At the top I take a little side trail to a suitable boulder, unzip the case, and take out the frame drum. It booms out over the valley, past the black trunks of ponderosa pines killed four years ago in the Mason Gulch fire, past resurgent Gambel oak, past living pines that the fire missed.<\/p>\n
In the south, that is where the fire started when lightning struck. In the west, that is Holt Mountain guarding its maze of overgrown skid roads. In the north, a steep brushy slope surmounted by rimrock. In the east, a glare of light.<\/p>\n
Uh-oh, what does Fisher have in his mouth? It’s the spare drumstick, and he is settling down to chew it. No! Come here! No serious damage, just dog slobber.<\/p>\n
So much for drumming. The calendrical ritual is done. It is perhaps that calendar that unites us Pagans more than theology–to be doing something<\/i> at these times.<\/p>\n
Happy solstice to all!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One advantage to living in the hills is that by taking different routes, you can pick the moment of observed solstice sunrise. I could sleep in until nine o’clock and still “drum up the sun” if I took the trail we call “the loop.” But the dogs want, need, and demand their morning run, so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[43],"class_list":["post-1269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-yule"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-kt","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":966,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=966","url_meta":{"origin":1269,"position":0},"title":"Solo Mountain Solstice","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 22, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Sunrise\" in the mountains is a malleable moment. You rise and dress for the -5 F (-20 C). weather, taking a hiking staff and the drum case.You walk the trail up the east ridge, then shoulder through a grove of Gambel oak until you can see the Sun's glow.Start drumming\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Yule\"","block_context":{"text":"Yule","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=yule"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4793,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=4793","url_meta":{"origin":1269,"position":1},"title":"Why the Solstice Sunrise is not the Latest","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The winter solstice is the shortest day, so why is the sunset is already happening later then than it is occurring now? And why does the sunrise keep on getting later after December 21st? Blame the fact that the day is not a perfect 24 hours long.","rel":"","context":"In \"solstice\"","block_context":{"text":"solstice","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=solstice"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1263,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1263","url_meta":{"origin":1269,"position":2},"title":"Father Christmas Works the Bar Crowd","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Father Christmas makes his way through the bar after a small-town Parade of Lights (of which more later). No, that was Santa on the fire engine. Different demigod.","rel":"","context":"In \"Yule\"","block_context":{"text":"Yule","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=yule"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7711,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=7711","url_meta":{"origin":1269,"position":3},"title":"The Eagles of Candlemas","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Paganism is not the religion of the polis, but the polis (loosely defined) can support your Paganism. For the last two days, my Facebook feed has been filling up with people posting electronic clip art to the theme of \"Happy Bridget \/ Imbolc \/ Candlemas.\" Me, I spent three hours\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"birds\"","block_context":{"text":"birds","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=birds"},"img":{"alt_text":"pueblo eagle days","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/pueblo-eagle-days.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10128,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=10128","url_meta":{"origin":1269,"position":4},"title":"A Soundtrack for the Yule Goat","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\"A soundtrack for the Yule Goat as he abducts children to his mountain fastness in Lapland,\" said the blogger that I got this from. Give it a listen, it's worth it.","rel":"","context":"In \"music\"","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=music"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/scary-santa.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/scary-santa.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/scary-santa.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13134,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=13134","url_meta":{"origin":1269,"position":5},"title":"Back for the Yule Log \u2014\u00a0Now with Goats!","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"After two years' hiatus, the Yule Log was hunted again last Sunday in Beulah, Colorado, a small town in the foothills of the Wet Mountains. This hunt is a twentieth-century revival, passed (along with log splinters) from Lake Placid, New York to Palmer Lake, Colorado to Beulah, where the tradition\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/huntsman-and-companions.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}