Scrittura Announcements

December is coming…

Dies Natalis Solis Invicti:

The Birth of the Unconquered Sun, as celebrated by the ancient Romans, was a pagan holiday observed on December 25th. In the late 3rd century C.E., the Roman emperor, Aurelian, gave the cult of Sol, the sun god, a new status. This is disputed, but some say the date of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti was appropriated by the Christians for their Christmas. Others hold that Aurelian chose this date (which was when he dedicated his temple to Sol Invicti in 274 C.E.) because the Christian holiday was becoming popular. The reason for the Roman holiday was the fact that the sun was starting to stay longer in the sky: Sol was going to “win” the battle over the winter darkness.*

Now, as a graveyard shift-worker, I’ve no issues with the darkness, nor am I a particular fan of the Sun. I feel greater reverence for the moon: cooler light, yes, but sublime. Even still, I fell in love with the sound and flow of that phrase — Dies Natalis Solis Invicti. Of course, because it’s Latin, it sounds particularly beautiful to me with a hint of the arcane about it.

Anyway, I’d love to tell you more about how the festival was celebrated, but, as with so many events in antiquity — there are competing and fragmented accounts of these celebrations. For some, it’s the culmination of Saturnalia; if so, perhaps, it continued some of the role reversals, orgies, and rituals that were part of the larger celebration in December.

December is coming…what we don’t want for Dies Natalis Solis Invicti:

Last December, I made an announcement that Scrittura would not be publishing any work about Christmas. The same holds this year. We will not be accepting any poetry or thoughts on that holiday. You are, however, welcome to delve into any other religious or pagan festival for the month of December.

The reasons for this are twofold: one, the assumption that, in the West, it is the most important holiday, tends to eclipse the fact that there are many celebrations throughout the world. These are interesting and deserving of exposure/exposition. We want to celebrate diversity, and not religious oppression. Two, there aren’t really a lot of fresh, critical explorations that happen during this time. Everyone wants to talk about food, family, and/or faith, but none of the material comes off as fresh; not anything I’ve read (feel free to challenge me on this!).

Don’t get me wrong. I love Christmas, in so far as it’s so much fun for my child, and I like having the opportunity to eat and play games with family. I just don’t love writings about Christmas.

Just to be clear: if your mention of Christmas is incidental (for instance, you mention lights or a Christmas tree) but is not the focus of your piece, we may consider it. If its intent is to show what Christmas means to you, please look for another place to publish. Thank you (it never feels good to have to reject a piece, so I’d like to avoid that step!)!

Looking for guest judges:

Somehow…I saved the best for last!! We’re excited to do something new. As most of you must surely be aware, November as the Month of the Corvids had a fantastic response. We were very pleased to see so much strong work regarding our friends the black birds!

We’re putting together a post that celebrates the best of Corvid Month. But, it’s got a twist that makes it really new (and bloody exciting!). We want to get four writers to be guest judges and select their favourites from a list (you can find it on my profile) of the pieces on corvids this month. We have already selected two of those judges: former editors Jessica Lee McMillan and Viraji Ogodapola are excited to look over the work you’ve submitted this month!

Melissa and I will be looking for two more judges: the qualities we’re looking for are people who are solid writers, who read work in Scrittura, and have eyes for great poetry.

We hope this encourages you to get involved in what remains of this month (still a few days to go!!) and/or get excited for our next theme-month (which will be February, 2022). We’ll be doing something similar four times a year, so be sure to watch for posts about what the next theme will be!!

That’s all I have for now, except to mention that our editor Melissa Coffey has posted important updates to Scrittura that will be informative for you. She also announces an exciting new feature coming to Scrittura. Check it out:

In case you missed it, I recently put up what we believe is a really important post/issue, and part of what being involved with Scrittura means:

Rock on, write on, read on!!!!

J.D. Harms 2021

*Information for this portion of the post came from — Sol Invictus — Wikipedia