Shaughna B is a storyteller, researcher, meditation teacher and infotainer who lives in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.
If there is one question that would sum Shaughna up, it would be "Why?"
There were so many questions about the traditions at this time of year, it was inevitable that her love of research would combine with her artistic side to tell some stories to help remind people how similar all humans are when you look past the stories to the souls that tell them.
Since the turn of the century, Shaughna B has been the official solstice historian for the multi- cultural solstice celebrations held by the Secret Lantern Society of Vancouver, BC. She wanders the festival carrying a gold book of Solstice tales and trivia, answering questions and gathering folks for a little Solstice storytelling
If you live in Vancouver and are wondering how you can do your part to help draw back the sun this year, consider volunteering for one of these fun, epic events in your neighbourhood
Check out the celebrations here: http://www.secretlantern.org
It is the solemn goal of this website to report the solstice magic from as many cultures as possible, with an eye to demonstrating the universality of this holiday season. It is my hope to educate people to share the magic of their celebration with all of their fellow humans, open-heartedly.
Namaste- Shaughna B
So, one more tale... but not a tale of Solstice- a tale of separation between the people
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Tower of Babel, 1563, oil on panel, 114 × 155 cm
In the Christian bible there is a tale where the people of the earth were all one
They came together to build a massive tower that would reach the heavens
When God saw what the people could do when they were united, he decided to separate them by taking from them the common language that allowed them to understand each other
it goes like this in King James...Genesis 11: 6
And the Lord said,
“Indeed the people are one and they all have one language,
and this is what they begin to do;
now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.
7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language,
that they may not understand one anothers’ speech.”
8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the tower
9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth;
and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
— Genesis 11: 6–9
This is not a Solstice myth-
this is a myth to remind us to look to the places where we are the same
and reach past our differences to understand each other
When we come together in peace and love, we speak the same language and then....
" nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them".
-Good Will to All
(Also curious if there are any other ancient tales that explain the separation of humans into cultures and languages- if you know one please send me some info so I can research the mythology of xenophobia- thanks SB
