This is a very special time of year to me. Not only because if the return of the light and, but for me because today is my daughters birthday, @sportybethcf and she is always a shining light in my life…wise and wonderful beyond her years.. A Solstice occurs when one of the Earth’s poles has its maximum tilt away from the Sun, the winter solstice itself lasts only a moment but, has been seen a significant time of year in many cultures, and has been marked by festivals and rituals since pre-historic times, It marks the symbolic death and rebirth of the Sun it has many other names Here is another ancient story similar to the last but this time with a Crow. ……….. An Inuit Legend – Crow brings daylight A long time ago, it was always dark in the north where the Inuit people lived. They thought it was dark all over the world until an old crow told them about daylight. The people begged the crow to go and bring them daylight, but he didn’t want to. He said it was a long way and he was too old to fly that far. But the people begged until he finally agreed to go. He flew for a long time until his wings were tired. He was about to turn back when he saw the dim glow of daylight in the distance. As he flew towards the dim light it became brighter and brighter until the whole sky was bright and he could see for miles. The exhausted bird landed in a tree near a village, wanting to rest. It was very cold. A daughter of the chief came to the nearby river. Crow turned himself into a speck of dust and drifted down onto her fur cloak. When she walked back to her father’s snow lodge, she carried him with her. Inside the snow lodge it was warm and bright. The girl took off her cloak and the speck of dust drifted towards the chief’s grandson, who was playing on the lodge floor. It floated into the child’s ear and he started to cry. “Why are you crying?” asked the chief, who was sitting at the fire. “Tell him you want to play with a ball of daylight,” whispered the dust. The chief told his daughter to fetch the box of daylight balls. When she opened it for him, he took out a small ball wrapped a string around it and gave it to his grandson. The speck of dust

Here is Part 2…”Raven Steals the Light Both father and daughter were delighted with their new addition and played with him for hours on end. As the child explored his new surroundings he soon determined that the light must be kept in the big box in the corner. When he first tried to open the box, his grandfather scolded him profusely which in turn started a crying and squawking fit the likes of which the old man had never seen. As grandfathers have done since the beginning of time he caved in and gave the child the biggest box to play with. This brought peace to the hut for a brief time but it wasn’t long until the child pulled his scam again, and again, and again until finally only one box remained. After much coaxing and wailing the old man at last agreed to let the child play with the light for only a moment. As he tossed the ball of light the child transformed into the Raven and snatching the light in his beak, flew through the smoke hole and up into the sky.The world was instantly changed forever. Mountains sprang into the bright sky and reflections danced on the rivers and oceans. Far away, the Eagle was awakened and launched skyward – his target now clearly in sight. Raven was so caught up in all the excitement of the newly revealed world that he nearly didn’t see the Eagle bearing down on him. Swerving sharply to escape the outstretched talons, he dropped nearly half of the ball of light which fell to the earth. Shattering into one large and many small pieces on the rocky ground the bits of light bounced back up into the heavens where they remain to this day as the moon and the stars. The Eagle pursued Raven beyond the rim of the world and exhausted by the long chase, Raven let go of what light still remained. Floating gracefully above the the clouds, the sun as we now know it started up over the mountains to the east. The first rays of the morning sun brought light through the smokehole of the old man’s house. He was weeping in sorrow over his great loss and looking up, saw his daughter for the first time. She was very beautiful and smiling, he began to feel a little better. #ravenstealsthelight #Raven #printmaking

As we approach the winter solstice…here is one of those wonderful ancient stories in two parts “Raven Steals the Light” There was a time long ago when the earth was covered in darkness. An inky pitch blanket over the world making it very difficult for anyone to hunt or fish or gather berries for food. An old man lived along the banks of a stream with his daughter. The reason why the world was dark had to do with the old man who had a box that contained a box that held many other boxes. In the very last box was all the light in the universe and this was a treasure he selfishly kept to himself. However the mischievous Raven existed at that time because he always had. He was none too happy about the state of the world for he blundered about in the dark bumping into everything. His interfering nature peaked one day when he stumbled by the old man’s hut and overheard him muttering about his boxes. He instantly decided to steal the light but first had to find a way to get inside the hut. Each day the young girl would go to the stream to fetch water so the Raven transformed himself into a tiny hemlock needle and floated into the girl’s bucket. Working a bit of his “trickster” magic, he made the girl thirsty and as she took a drink he slipped down her throat. Once down in her warm insides he changed again; this time into a small human being and took a very long nap. The girl did not know what was happening to her and didn’t tell her father. One day the Raven emerged as a little boy child. If anyone could have seen him in the dark, they would have noticed that he was a peculiar looking child with a long beak like nose, a few feathers here and there, and the unmistakably shining eyes of the Raven. to be continued…… #ravenstealsthelight #Raven #printmaking #linocut #monoprint #solstice #wintersolstice #shortestday #myth #legend #folktale

Another Robin and another poem by Emily Dickenson… from the Bird of the Month for December. If you would like to get the whole ebook free of charge. It comes to you when you subscribe…no catches just 1 monthly newsletter and a bird of the month free ebook there is a link in my profile …. . https://ift.tt/2OAUfYX

Another robin page from the Bird of the Month for December. If you would like to get the whole ebook free of charge a link comes to you when you subscribe…no catches just monthly news and a bird of the month free ebook there is a link in my profile …. . #bto #rspb #birdlife #thewildlifetrusts . . https://ift.tt/2OAUfYX

Each month I try to find out What we can do to help my bird of the month… this is that page from the Bird of the Month for December. If you would like to get the whole ebook free of charge a link comes to you when you subscribe…no catches just monthly news and a bird of the month free ebook there is a link in my profile …. . . . https://ift.tt/2OAUfYX