The Ale & the Witch hosts a Winter Solstice celebration in downtown St. Petersburg Friday night. Credit: Rosser1954 [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

The Ale & the Witch hosts a Winter Solstice celebration in downtown St. Petersburg Friday night. Credit: Rosser1954 [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons
The Ale & the Witch is pretty much the most perfect place to celebrate the Winter Solstice, also known as Yule. While Yule lasts a couple of weeks (ask any witch), the Solstice is one day —and, in the case of the Winter Solstice, it’s the shortest day (and longest night of the year). And, according to tradition, on the Solstice, people would douse the decorated-with-greens Yule log with ale. Which, as we said, makes The Witch the perfect place to celebrate the Sun King’s rebirth.

Winter Solstice at The Ale & The Witch | 111 Second Ave. NE, St. Petersburg | Fri., Dec. 21: 8-11:53 p.m. | 727-821-2533

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This article appears in Dec 20-27, 2018.

Cathy's portfolio includes pieces for Visit Florida, USA Today and regional and local press. In 2016, UPF published Backroads of Paradise, her travel narrative about retracing the WPA-era Florida driving...