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Solstice means 'standstill,' for around December 21st each year, the sun appears to rise and set in the same place for a few days before beginning its long journey northwards for the next turning of the spiral year.  
In ancient times, all of Europe celebrated the midwinter season with feasting, dancing and merrymaking – and above all, light and fire. The Romans held a boisterous feast known as the Saturnalia, and celebrated the ‘Birthday of the Unconquered Sun’ on December 25th, a custom that honoured the god Mithras. Further north, the Norse celebrate Yule, a name which may have given us the word ‘jolly.’  
In the Christian era, this festival became the Feast of Christ, (Christ’s Mass, or Christmas). The actual birthday of Christ had never been certain, so the time-honoured winter festival was chosen because people were used to celebrating the birth of the Sun at this time of year, and the new god had many solar attributes.  
 
 
Trees of Midwinter  
One of the most beautiful and meaningful symbols found in connection with all midwinter celebrations is the tree. When the earth is cold and bare, every green tree becomes a harbinger of hope and the promise of new life to come. Although the custom of decorating a Christmas tree in our living rooms only originated with the Victorians, in the Celtic countries, rich and poor alike have always brought evergreen boughs into their houses at this time of year, especially holly, with its cheerful red berries. When you kiss someone beneath a mistletoe bough, you touch back to the time of the Druids.  
 
The Glastonbury Thorn  
A special tree that holds great spiritual significance at this time of year is the Glastonbury Thorn. Legend has it that Joseph of Arimathea, the uncle of Jesus, came to the Isle of Avalon - some say bearing the Holy Grail. Exhausted after the long sea voyage, he and his companions, “weary all,” climbed the hill that is even today called Wearyall Hill, and when he reached the top, Joseph thrust his staff into the earth. It burst into blossom, and became the hawthorn tree that has ever since flowered each year at Christmastide. A descendant of the same tree still flourishes on the hill, and is visited by many pilgrims today.  
 
A sprig of the flowering thorn is sent to the king or queen of England every Christmas – a modern custom, but one which nevertheless has its roots in some of the most ancient beliefs in the spirit of the land. In Celtic times, the tribal leader had to make a sacred contract with the goddess, for without her loving consent, the earth would bear no crops and the people would perish. Hawthorn is a tree sacred to the goddess of love in more than one country, so the midwinter flowers of the Glastonbury Thorn are living symbols of Nature’s renewed covenant with humankind.  
 
Green Hope  
The many centuries of ritual and ceremony performed by our ancestors have laid down impressions or "tracks" in the astral plane, making spiritual energy more accessible at this time of year. That's why, even if we don't go out of our way to celebrate the Solstice or Christmas, a different kind of atmosphere can still be felt around us, a palpable sense of "Angels bending near the Earth to touch their harps of gold," in the words of the old hymn. The possibility of peace, hope for the awakening of the human race and the healing of our world is rekindled within our hearts, and every tree becomes a Tree of Life, promising the greening and renewal of Earth.