Rough nights from December 21st: 5 rituals with which you can manifest your wishes for 2024

The end of the year is a very special time, with a very special atmosphere. It is a time when we reflect on ourselves, when most people finally feel a little calm after the hustle and bustle of Christmas, when we reflect on the year and think about what we want to do with the new one.

Whether it is due to the so-called rough nights, which spread their mystical atmosphere over us and tempt us to inner contemplation, reflection and visions of the future, may be a little too much mumbo jumbo and spirituality for some people. But it can’t hurt at all to wrap up the past year and prepare for something new. Rituals and short breaks help with this. We’ll reveal which ones you can use for yourself here.

What are the rough nights all about?

The rough nights are the twelve nights between the years. More precisely: between the lunar year, which has a length of 354 days with twelve lunar cycles, and the solar year with its 365 days. The Rauhnächte close the gap between the lunar and solar calendars. A mystical time. A no-time. Every Rauhnacht begins in the evening and lasts until the evening of the next day.

Traditionally, the rough nights start with the winter solstice on December 21st. – the darkest day of the year. However, it is now more popular to celebrate the rough nights on the night of December 24th to 25th. to start and finish on January 5th. This is because Christianity has, to a certain extent, overlapped the winter solstice with Christmas – as a result, the start of the Rauhnächte moved from December 21st to the 24th. Which start you choose is entirely up to you.

The door to the other world – that’s why the Rauhnächte are so special

The ancient Germanic tribes were convinced that the boundaries between our world and the world of spirits, the dead and our ancestors blurred during the rough nights and the veil became more permeable, so that a cruel army of spirits, led by Odin, moved across the land during this time. By the way, this is also the reason for the custom of not doing laundry between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. It was believed that demons got caught in drying laundry.

During the rough nights, seers used the proximity of the supernatural to their advantage. Thanks to the thin veil, more precise predictions about the future could be made during oracles. It is believed that communication with the ancestors and the dead was also facilitated when the world of spirits moved closer to the world of humans.

At the same time, the winter solstice is a time of change. On the one hand, the astronomical winter begins, characterized by cold and darkness, and on the other hand, the days are getting longer again.

Today, no one goes without washing their clothes, but some other Germanic rituals are experiencing a renaissance again – especially because they are good for you and are traditionally used for inner contemplation. They offer a chance to break old patterns in the new year and move in a direction that makes you more content and happy.

Rituals for your rough nights

First of all: Celebrating the Rough Nights should be good for you, not stressful. You don’t have to complete all the rituals. Do what you want to do and what you have time for. But the important thing is: be honest with yourself. That can sometimes be scary, but the rough nights are also about looking at the unsightly aspects that we would otherwise prefer to close our eyes to. Because this is the only way the change you want will happen. Anyone who ignores the dark sides misses the opportunity to integrate them.

During the rough nights, the main thing is to think less and feel more. To create space to go within yourself and deal with inner longings and hidden possibilities that we lose sight of in everyday life. These rituals will help you:

1. Get rid of legacy issues

A ritual that is good all year round, but lays the foundation before the rough nights. Therefore, you can do this step by step beforehand. This is about freeing yourself from unnecessary baggage. Anything that weighs on you can go. Clear out your apartment or just the closet, pay outstanding bills, clarify misunderstandings and complete open to-dos that have been haunting you for a long time. The old has to go to make room for the new. The best period for this is the so-called closed nights (December 8th – December 21st), which precede the rough nights and with which we can say goodbye to the old year.

2. Keep a dream diary

The best way to do this is to put a piece of paper or a small diary next to your bed so that you have it ready to hand in the morning so that you can record your first thoughts and dreams as soon as you wake up. Because our subconscious should be particularly accessible during rough nights. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to dreams and thoughts and write them down. Classic journaling is also great for this.

3. Burn desires

For many people, expressing wishes for the New Year is part of the turn of the year. It is therefore hardly surprising that it is also celebrated during the Rauhnächte. You can think about your wishes beforehand. Ask yourself what you really want from the bottom of your heart and write your wishes on different pieces of paper. At the end, select the 13 most important ones. Then you fold them so that you can no longer read the contents and burn one of the pieces of paper every rough night without reading it.

There will be one piece of paper left on the last night of raucousness. You can open it. You can now take specific action to make this wish come true.

Tip: Formulate your wishes as if they were already true. So “I am successful”, “I travel around the world”, “I am healthy”. This way your wish becomes an affirmation and comes true almost by itself.

4. Smoking

Smoking has been part of the typical Rauhnacht rituals for a very long time. It is an energetic cleansing of body, mind and your home. It is said to keep evil spirits away and invite positive energies. You can easily order a smoking set for the rough nights online. Suitable incense include frankincense, sage, juniper or fir.

5. Meditate

Maybe you’ve always wanted to start meditating but somehow never found the beginning? Then now is the perfect moment to integrate it into your everyday life and see if it suits you. Don’t worry if it doesn’t work right away at the beginning and your thoughts keep wandering. Meditation needs to be practiced. Simply start with small sessions and extend the time little by little as it fits into your everyday life.

If you would like to connect with nature, you can move your meditation outside, for example to the forest, or try a walking meditation. Many people find it easier if they are guided through meditation – you can find many guided meditations on various streaming platforms.

What do the individual rough nights mean?

Each night represents a month in the year and a task. If you want, you can deal with a specific topic every day.

25 December – January: looking back, letting go of old things

December 26th – February: become quiet, calm down

December 27th – March: opening up to others and your inner self

December 28th – April: trust in your inner self

December 29th – May: do something good for yourself, enjoy

30th of December – June: forgive, forgive, heal relationships

December 31 – July: Discover your heart’s desires

January 1st – August: Make decisions for the new year

January 2nd – September: Awarded

January 3rd – October: become mindful of what is

January 4th – November: be grateful for what is

January 5th – December: recognize the meaning of the impulses of the last nights

Sources: Wikipedia.de, matchamornings.de, krautundrueben.de, fuckluckygohappy.de

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Bridget