Today/tomorrow is winter solstice - the shortest day and the longest night in the year. Marking the darkest and the most difficult time of the year, where light and warmth is sparse, this is when human being around the world have created other ways to supply themselves with these important resources – by spending those dark, long, cold nights with one another and enriching them with sharing their experiences.

Storytelling, music and dance have been a natural way to combat the winter fatigue, depression and anxieties. In modern day living, when the communities have been broken down and families are spread all over the world, this time of year is a special one, when people actually do get together and set that time aside to nourish each other and keep each other company in the dark.

Some cultures have incorporated fragrance into the winter celebration. The following are a few ideas for adapting these customs into modern day living – whether you are religious or not.

Candles
Well, you all know what my people do to brighten up the winter. We light those candles on a 9 branched candlestick called Chanukia. Each night, one candle is added until in the 8th night of the holiday, the Chanukia is all lit up.
While Chanuka is over, the possibilities of lighting candles are not. Candles have a warm, soft light and make each situation feel somewhat more intimate and less intimidating. I always light candles in parties rather than have a full-blown electric light, to make my guests feel more comfortable and to set a different, more festive mood. If you have fragrant candles, all the better. Soy wax or beeswax candles are the cleanest burning and are better for you and the environment.
If your candles are unscented, you can scent them yourself by anointing them with your own oil. Simply rub the outside of the candle with an oil based perfume, and the room will be filled with a gentle aroma and a gentle light. I recommend using a natural perfume oil for that matter. I used to do that with my Moon Breath perfume with spectacular results, and I’m sure you could do the same with more simple combinations of oils that appeals to you. Use a base of jojoba, almond or olive oil for best results.

Bathing
In Japan, yuzu fruit are added to hot baths for a festive winter solstice bathing ritual. And indeed, I can’t recommend a better time for a citrus bath than now. While public bathing is rarely part of Western culture, this might be a good time to share your bath with those who you feel comfortable with and depending on the size of your bath. Citrus scented bath at this time will also have none of the photoxic risk (unless you live in a sunny country), as your skin will most likely be non exposed to the sun after taking the bath… Even if taken alone, this rejuvenating fragrant bath is sure to chase away the winter gloom and bring in positive thoughts like sunny orchards.

Here is a recipe for a nourishing and fragrant citrus bath oil.

Yellow Yuzu Bath Oil
100ml Almond Oil
2 capsules vitamin E
20 drops Lemon essential oil
20 drops Litsea Cubeba essential oil
50 drops Yuzu essential oil
20 drops Grapefruit essential oil
5 drops Clementine essential oil

Incense
Frankincense and Myrrh were gifted to Jesus Christ upon his birth, and have played a symbolic role in other places in the New Testament (myrrh was given to Christ on the cross to relief his pain, as it is an analgesic). Symbolically, frankincense is associated with the sun, while myrrh is associated with the earth. There couldn’t be a better time to burn incense. An incense made of equal amounts of frankincense tears and myrrh resin would be very appropriate. Burn it on a hot charcoal in a censer to create an atmosphere in your gathering and bond between those presents; or, burn it in your home to clear it energetically, flowing new energy into the rooms where the incense is brought into, and creating space for more sunlight and warmth.


Tea
Once upon a time, my parents decided to buy a wood stove to heat the little hat they built in the Western Galilee. And a very clever idea that was, as there was no better way to heat the house other than that. So, they took me and my baby brother for a sleepover in a Druze family in the village of Hurfesh in the Upper Galilee, who brought us the next day to Beith Jan to buy the said wood stove. The family lived in one room, and in the night time, mattresses were placed all over the floor for the family members to sleep. There were only two additional rooms to the house – an outhouse, and the kitchen. And in the living room (which is were everyone really did live), there were only two pieces of furniture – a wood stove for heating the space and a dining table. The three kids that lived there had no toys at all, but they did have markers and paper. And they drew rooms with light bulbs hanging from their ceilings – something that seemed very odd to me (we did not have electricity in our village). Somehow, the bareness of their home seemed to be quite inspirational to my parents and I can’t remember myself being bored there even for one moment, as the kids were welcoming and shared all they had with us.

A wonderful spice tea that is served during the winter months in most Druze homes in the Galilee and the Golan heights is called “Hulnejan”. It is a combination of three spices: dried ginger root, dried cinnamon bark and a root called “hulnjan” that is spicy and earthy all at once. It releases a beautiful aroma in the home when cooked. Practically, it is left on the fire place the whole winter, and the family members and guests will gather to drink it (it is very spicy), sweetened with sugar and topped with freshly unshelled pecan nuts. It is still a mystery to me what “hulnjan” is or where to find it out of the Druze community, but a similar tea can be brewed, with spices of your choice.

A tea ceremony of any kind is an excellent way to enjoy togetherness during the winter time. You can prepare your own chai tea with your own whole spices. I made this chai during Hanukah and we sat together and ate donuts and drank chai. It was unforgettabley delicious… I’m no tea expert, so take or leave what you like of this recipe. But one thing is for sure – homemade chai is so much better than those tea bagged chai teas from the supermarket.

2 tsp. Assam tea
1 star anise
½ tsp black peppercorns
1 small piece of whole, dry ginger root
6 green cardamom pods
4 clove buds
1 cinnamon stick
8 pimento berries
½ nutmeg nut
½ cup water
4 cups whole milk
4 tsp. sugar

In a small pot, cover the spices and tea with water and bring to a boil. Add 4 cups of whole milk. Bring to a simmer. Add 4 teaspoons brown sugar and cover the pot for 5 minutes to allow the milk to absorb the aroma. Strain and serve in small cups to encourage everyone to ask for more many times!

In the very beginning of my work as a perfumer, I made incense. Not the cheap kind of incense made of pre-made incense sticks dipped in synthetic oils. But rather, loose incense, made of a combination of resins, wood barks, spices and herbs. Traditionally, these are burnt over hot charcoals in many religious spaces such as temples and churches. There is something really magical about entering a space like this. The scent of burning incense is what you notice first of all. And it’s been burnt there for many years (in some cases, hundred over hundreds of years). The incense permeates the walls of such temples and churches, sinks into the stone or wood, not to mention the clothes and hair of the people in it. Everybody becomes connected through smoke.

The best incense I’ve ever made was a kyphi formulation. It was not my recipe, but I was still very pleased with it all the same. The process for making kyphi is longer than any other incense, as it uses raisins and honey as an agent to glue together the differerent fragrant components (i.e.: frankincense, myrrh, juniper berries, cinnamon and so on). The raisins need to soak for quite a while and the whole process is sensual and magically fragrant. Forming the incense pellets also takes quite a while, as well as drying them out (to let any excess moisture out). The fragrant is never “burnt” and always pleasant with kyphi.

But I digress… What I really wanted to talk about is how incense really was the first form of perfume. It’s already a well known fact that the word “perfume” originates in Latin: Per Fumum means “through smoke”. What is less talked about is how it all started. And I feel that somehow, even though we don’t have the exact evidence for this – the way incense (and than perfume) was discovered is so deeply rooted in our conciousness that it can be a truly powerful tool to reconnect with our deepest selves and reestablish our connection with past generation and with the earth – thus perhaps securing a brighter future for the future generations.

I imagine incense was discovered one day when a few homo-sapiens or even less advanced species of humans made a fire and discovered that a certain plant (perhaps it was an ancient coniferous plant?) made the fire go higher, brighter and stronger. They may have also noticed a very strong and pleasant odour released at the same time. Bit by bit, our apish forefathers have discovered more and more plants, woods, resins and herbs that made the fire start quicker (the essential oils are highly flammable – just think about all the turpentine in pine trees for instance!). They also noticed that they feel better when they smell these burning plants, and their spiritual leaders or shamans used these as medicine to treat both body and soul, and as means to communicate with spiritual beings (represented by the visible, thick incense smoke emanating from these plants when burnt).
The earliest mention of incense is in the Epic of Gilgamesh, a Sumerian tale of The Flood. The Sumerian civilization existed nearly 7,000 years ago. The Egyptians have perfected the art of incense, medicine and also fat based perfumes (maceration of fragrant plant matter in oil, as well as solid perfumes). The Egyptian civilization started about 5,000 years ago. These are very early moments in human history, and even than, fragrance was connected to many aspects of human life: spirituality, beauty and health. Incense was a constant presence in the domain of spiritual work and worship sites. Incense was a way to heal the sick (get rid of evil spirits to banish the physical illness). And it was a luxury commodity among the rich.

Incense and fragrance had many spiritual and healing roles in the Indian and Chinese culture (Ayurveda and Chinese medicine both used aromatics and aromatic herbs for their healing properties).

It wasn’t until very recently that perfume have become “just” a commodity and a luxury item, as if disconnected from the other benefits it provides for us for our spiritual and physical well-being. It is funny that just as quickly as we in the West forgot about it, we were also fast to receive it again in the form of aromatherapy – an art of healing that has grown so fast as to lose most of its meaning in the last couple of years. The term is so overused, and synthetic aromatics are often substituting the real, natural ones in many commercial products that claim to be “aromatherapeutic”. And so aromatherapy grew fast, and than it just collapsed – instead of to oblivion, to a far worse real, the realm of being misused, misunderstood, over used and also used in not so careful ways.

We must respect the power that natural essences posses. They need to be used properly and sparsely in order to be used effectively (especially for medicinal or therapeutic use). There are many ways to benefit from natural essences in an “aromatherpeutic” way. When it comes to balancing emotions and connecting with ourselves (or our higher selves, if we are so ambitious!), incense is one such way. And setting time to enjoy and appreciate incense and get back to the basics. Breathing.

Today was 9th of Av (the 4th month in the Jewish calendar) - the day in which both the first and second temples were destroyed. It's interesting, that while there are plenty of references to incense and fragrance in the bible, there is very little ritual involving scent in Judaism.
The reason being, that the incense and anointing oils were only to be used in the presence of the Shekhinah. And after the destruction of the temple, the Shekhinah is believe to have left the people of Israel and is to come back only when the Messiah arrives.
Until than, Jewish ceremonies, for the most part, contain no fragrance. In any case, no fragrance that is burned and no anointing oils. Fragrance is included (but is not mandatory) as one of the blessing on the Sabbath table as well as when the Sabbath is over (in the "Havdalah"). Herbs such as myrtle are most commonly used for the fragrance blessing "Bore Miney Besamim" on those occasions, and so is a pomander of lemon or orange dried with spears of clove buds.

And what were those perfumes used in the holy incense and anointing oil in the holy tent and in the Hebrew tabernacle?
These were precious perfumes of antiquity, also used by the Egyptians, such as myrrh, frankincense, agarwood, spikenard, cinnamon and calamus. While the ingredients were allowed to be used as desired for personal pleasure or cosmetic use (such as in the Song of Solomon), the exact ratio was consecrated and was not to be repeated or used by anyone except for the priests. The oil was used to anoint the tools and furniture in the tabernacle, and the incense was used during the ceremonies.