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Sam Lloyd's avatar

Lovely new logo and lovely story. I do so appreciate your southern hemisphere writings, as I woke in the dark of the shortest day of the year this morning, and looked toward the east to see if I could see Matariki.

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Geneviève Hopkins's avatar

Thank you, Sam. It was a beautiful morning where I live. Very clear and cold. I was rushing out to get my son to his soccer match and forgot to look for Matariki. Did you see her?

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Cosytidyhome's avatar

Lovely logo, its quite striking actually. The fern may have Ukrainian or Lithuanian folk links to it but definitely not in the Polish culture or folk lore. Its admired as a plant growing in the woods or forest but definitely nothing more than that. Happy solstice!

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Geneviève Hopkins's avatar

Thanks for your comment, it's nice to know others like the logo as much as I do. Thanks also for letting me know that the mythical fern flower is not part of Polish tradition. I did some more research to learn about what the fern flower is in Poland; you're right about it being a very different thing. Are you Polish by any chance? Do you celebrate Kupala?

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Cosytidyhome's avatar

Hi Genevieve, i learnt something too from your post. I'd never heard of Kupala, because at home we celebrated the Christian version of it called Noc świętojańska. Which really means night of st. John. I looked up Kupala and sounds like its the secular or more pagan way of celebrating it.

Tonight im performing some poetry at a midwinter festival here in W. Australia. Just hope the bucketing rain stops in time, fingers crossed.

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Geneviève Hopkins's avatar

And now I've learned something new too - Noc świętojańska. I've updated the post to take out the mention of Poland. Good luck tonight, I hope you have a wonderful performance. Crossing fingers for the rain to stop in time, too!

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Cosytidyhome's avatar

Thank you so much Genevieve, it turned bitterly cold and many souls turned up braving the cold and rain. We all dried off by the roaring fire afterwards. Was a beautiful and memorable evening and event

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Geneviève Hopkins's avatar

I'm so glad it went well!

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Cate Whittle's avatar

I don't quite have the words to describe how this moved me as I read your words, Geneviève. A beautiful rebranding of Wheel & Cross, and a beautiful story to welcome the day. May your Winter Solstice be one of magic, too, and as the light returns to the year, may it bring light to you.

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Geneviève Hopkins's avatar

Thank you so much, Cate. Wasn't this morning beautiful!! So frosty, cold and clear. There's still frost on the ground in the shade! We're celebrating with pea and ham soup for dinner, using the ham hock from Christmas (and summer solstice). That's about all we can manage this year, but it's still a nice way to mark the day. I hope you are having a wonderful day!

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