"Our knowledge of winter is a fragment of childhood, almost innate; we learn about it in the surprising cluster of novels and fairytales that are set in snow. All the careful preparations that animals make to endure the cold, foodless months, hibernation and migration, deciduous trees dropping leaves. This is no accident."
It is 4pm on a damp November afternoon and owl-light is just beginning to descend, pushing back the watery daylight with the promise of a velvety night to come. I'm burning Pumpkin Chai scented candles left over from Samhain and sipping on Turkish Delight hot chocolate. Curled up in my little nook under a blanket, I have just finished reading Wintering by Katherine May and what a lovely little book it is too!
Wintering is both a personal memoir of living with chronic illness and an ode to the dark season of life. At first, I thought that I had mistakenly picked up a book that was more about illness and suffering than the winter season I love so much, but once through the introduction and back story, I found myself hungrily devouring chapter after chapter of this charming book.
May's work is extremely descriptive and she takes her reader on a journey from September to March, with stops along the way at Stonehenge, Iceland, a Swedish church, Norway and the coastal villages of England. Here we meet reindeer, wolves, dormice, robins and bees, as well as St Lucy, the Cailleach, St Nicholas and a few ghosts. Each chapter is a feast of various winter animals and events, seasonal changes, mental adjustments and the customs most of us follow blindly, because opting out would get us a bad reputation!
Of course one must still do Christmas when one has a troubled child, a sick husband and a debilitating illness, but May shares her struggles with great humour as she tries to live up to society's expectations of doing it all, all the time.
Sometimes you need to rest and switch off and Wintering encourages just that. I found that reading through the chapters had a very calming, soothing effect on the psyche, as my favourite season was laid out on the page before me, in all its icy beauty. The author nurtures her readers as well as herself as she writes. While sharing her friend's story, for instance, May writes,
"Nobody had ever said to me; you need to live a life you can cope with, not one that other people want. Just do one thing a day. No more than two social events in a week."
When I read that passage, I felt a jolt of understanding and empathy. How refreshing to be given permission to live the kind of life we can actually cope with? How much would that reduce anxiety and stress? It puts things into perspective with such crystal clear clarity. It is certainly one of the most powerful messages of the book.
Wintering is a short book, but one that is packed full of all the best and brightest things that the winter season has to offer. It will give you permission to enjoy keeping winter in a way that suits you and your needs. It will inspire you to welcome in the season with optimism and to take advantage of the extra hours of darkness to indulge in much needed slumber.
In many ways, it reminded me of the works of Sarah Ban Breathnach and Cathy Rentzenbrink, so if you like their books you will probably enjoy Wintering too. Read it in one go, sitting by the fireside as I did, or indulge in a chapter a day to bring some much needed festive magic to your lunch break. However you choose to Winter this year, I wish you joy for the brightest dark season ahead!
Bright Blessings
Marie x
AD; This book was sent to me by the publisher for review purposes. It is available to buy and download now.
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