The Magic Of The Rough Nights
Ancient rituals for our modern times.
I would like to take you on a very special journey today. On a journey to a world in between the years that are traditionally also called the rough nights. For many of us the year 2019 was quite a special year of transformation, personal growth and development. A year we should for sure have a second glance at.
Personally, I heard of the rough nights for the first time about three years ago through one of my mentors and my first reaction was: Rough-what??! I had never heard of this term before and couldn’t imagine at all what was meant by it. When I dived into the subject though, the magic of the rough nights soon captured and totally fascinated me. I actively celebrated them soon after hearing about them and they have become a fixed and important annual ritual for me that I would like to share with you today. I firmly believe that ancient rituals such as the rough nights can be a great invitation for us in our modern and often hectic world to create a space of consciousness, reflection and clarity.
The Holy Nights.
The rough nights are also called the holy nights and refer to the twelve nights in between the years that hold a very unique, magical and transformative energy. Time almost seems to be standing still in those nights and I always look forward to this time of year that seems to be moving along without a real feeling of space and time, because the old year has not yet come to a full close and the new year also has not yet really begun. It is a time of visions, dreams and if you feel called, of spiritual experience, when the connection between the spirit world and the human world seems to be especially pronounced. It has been widely believed that the doors to the otherworld and the beyond are wildly open then and subtle energies and powers can be much easier perceived. Our ancestors believed that ghosts and demons could enter your home and life easier during this time and they accordingly tried to ward off all negative during these nights by engaging in various rituals, customs and set rules. As an example of a couple of rituals, which have survived into our modern world, smoking the houses and stalls with herbs, the pouring of molten lead and the carol singers that are traditionally moving from house to house on the 6th of January, can be mentioned. The term rough nights derives from the German term Rauhnächte that is believed to derive from the Middle High German word rûch, meaning wild and hairy. A connection can be drawn here to the appearances of the ghosts and demons that people believed in. The term rough nights is also believed to be connected to the German word rauh which refers to the smoke of the rough night rituals. Traditionally the rough nights are celebrated from the 24./25. of December to the 4./5. of January. These nights invite you to go on a journey of consciousness and personal insight that allows you to reflect on the last year as well as to look ahead and set intentions for the upcoming year. Every rough night is connected to the energy of a month of the following year. You can intensively deal with what you would like to let go of and leave in the old year and what you would like to invite into the next one. You can now wonderfully and magically create a space for your ideas, intentions and especially for your intuition in order to feel into what you really desire. You can consciously and gratefully revisit experiences and events of the year gone by, through deeply connecting to your inner self, listening to your inner voice and strengthening both through rituals.
The Origin of the Rough Nights.
The rough nights don’t take place soon after the winter solstice – the longest night of the year (at least in the northern hemisphere) by accident. On winter solstice people at all times have celebrated and greeted the returning light after a period of darkness. Although the rough nights have been celebrated in Christian traditions – during this time people have always felt closer to God – the rough nights have their origin in Germanic as well as in Celtic traditions. The Germanic tribes went by the moon calendar as well as the sun calendar. The sun calendar had 365 days and in combination with the moon calendar that consisted of 354 days, there is a difference of eleven days and twelve nights, namely the rough nights. The time of the resurgence of light and the rough nights stand in direct connection with Christmas celebrations as we know them today. Christmas as an official church festival was first verifiably stated in the year 336 AD. Until today Christmas is a yearly celebration of family, connectedness and contemplation. But Christmas most likely doesn’t have its origin in the birth of Jesus, because it is recorded in old calendars that the 25th of December was the day of the winter solstice. In the Germanic tradition this day was called Yule from which the Scandinavian word Jul for Christmas still remains. And the Romans worshipped their Sol Invictus, their invincible sun god, who was also celebrated on the 25th of December. It wasn’t until a couple of decades later that Konstantin the Great had a vision of the symbol of Christ. Konstantin converted, built many churches and converted the birthday of Sol Invictus to that of Jesus. It is also interesting that in the Bible Jesus is sometimes referred to as the invincible sun and as the true light of the world, which could also be seen as a clue that two birthday parties were simply put together here. Either way the rough nights that consequently follow the annual celebration of light have always given people the room and space to follow their inner visions and dreams.
Little Rough Night Companion.
You can celebrate the rough nights in many different ways and it is, like everything, totally up you, your personal taste and likings. A conscious interaction with the rough nights, no matter how you actually engage, gives you the possibility to welcome the new year on an active, creative and positive note.
If you want to celebrate the rough nights this year, it is generally good to not have many things on your agenda in order to make space for inner reflection, quiet and calm. It is also beneficial that you have a place where you are undisturbed and where you can relax and let go. To end the year on a positive note, it is also recommendable to resolve all open cases, such as paying outstanding invoices, giving back all borrowed things, etc. before the rough nights. Personally I love the rough night tradition to smoke my house extensively as a part of an energetic cleansing practice. To release the old and welcome the new it is important to cleanse your surroundings, yourself, your relationships, or whatever intuitively feels right to you. As incense you can pretty much use everything from your herb garden, such as juniper, rosemary, lavender, sage or frankincense extract. If you are using bought dried white sage, make sure to pay attention to the amount you use, as well as where and how it was harvested, due to the scarce natural resources of the plant. Due to the same reasons, I haven’t mentioned Palo Santo here at all. Instead you can use mugwort as a sustainable alternative. Smoke your house, yourself and everything that feels right in order to welcome clarity and calm.
Rough Night Rituals.
It is good to have some kind of (dream-)diary, journal or notebook nearby to write things down in during the rough nights. From experience you will receive downloads, impulses, thoughts or visions that could be helpful. Make it a habit to write things down when they occur, for example, write down any dreams you might have had right after you wake up. Personally, I plan a little ritual every night where I light my favorite candle and intuitively pick an oracle card out of one of my oracle decks. Then I write down everything that comes to my mind about this card, my day and so on. Another ritual that I often use with my clients and also for myself, is automatic writing that you can combine greatly with all other aforementioned practices. I usually plan around five or ten minutes of automatic writing after or before my other rituals. You automatically write, draw and paint everything that intuitively comes to your mind and over the time that you have set for yourself. The only important thing is that you don’t put the pen down, even if you are drawing circles for ten minutes straight. You will probably meet quite a bit of your own resistance at first, but you will get better with time and this is a great practice to come into contact with your subconscious, something that is more often than not neglected in our modern times. Out of the impulses and thoughts that you have written down, you can then set your intentions for the next year. You can, for example, ask yourself the following questions:
What do I want to let go of this year and not take on into the next? What do I plan to do more for the next year? What or who do I want to invite into my life in the next year? What and who makes my heart, mind and body vibrant and alive?
When putting your intentions together it is important to formulate them from a perspective and point of growth, love and abundance, because you are laying the foundation and setting the tone for the upcoming year. It is also important to trust. To trust your path and to trust the unexpected turns of your life as well as the expected. After setting your intentions it is therefore important to consciously let go of them and not to become attached to a certain outcome. It can help you to burn the paper with your intentions and thus symbolically set them free to work their magic. I like to put my intentions as well as pictures and photos on a vision board, so I can access them whenever I feel like it.
These are only a few of the rough night rituals you could engage in and you can freely add other rituals, prayers and meditations to your very own rough night celebrations.
Many rough night greetings,
Dani