It is the winter solstice. I like this event. Many ancient cultures and civilizations – at least those in the Northern Hemisphere – celebrated this time of year. They welcomed the return of the Sun.
It is no coincidence Christmas is placed at this time of year. The early Protestants were not wrong trying to ban the celebration as a pseudo-pagan holiday. The event touches on the archaic. The solstice has an element of hope. Just as things seem darkest, Light appears and what seemed dark and dead begins to become alive. Mankind needs this; and Yule/Winter Solstice fills this.
Solstice no longer evokes fears of ‘How are we going to make it until the spring time?” Now that I live in Phoenix, the return of the sun is no longer a such a joyous event.
All the same. It makes my Nordic and Celtic bloodlines bubble a bit with ancient memories of long ago winters.
I will light some candles and welcome the light. A new year is on its way, with hope and longing for the green of another spring.
Spo-Reflections 
15 comments
December 19, 2010 at 8:54 PM
A. Lewis
I saw YOUR sun this morning when I ventured into, and back out of, Phoenix in at rapid speed. It was a great morning. But, honestly, I loved the smattering of snow we had this evening. The winter is here. I’m enjoying it.
December 19, 2010 at 10:43 PM
Peter
Not only the Protestants had problems with this pagan fest, the RC Church had problems with it too way before the protestants.
The early Catholic Church did not celebrate Christmas. Furthermore, Tertullian (one of its leading 2nd/3rd century writers) warned that to participate in the winter celebrations made one beholding to pagan gods.
More here
December 20, 2010 at 4:13 AM
Lemuel
I was amused and intrigued yesterday to hear an ad on TV express wishes for the Winter Solstice.
December 20, 2010 at 4:47 AM
DougT
That was a beautiful post, and you chose a lovely image to illustrate it. We have had a fairly hard start to winter here in the Midwest, so the promise of the return of the Sun is already welcome. A very good Yule to you.
December 20, 2010 at 5:23 AM
Will
My holiday decoration of the house doesn’t involve glitz and light-up Santas. It’s all natural materials, boughs, swags and ropes of pine cones, very much what the old Celts did at this time to greet the Solstice. As the years go by I am more and more comfortable and happy with pre-Christian symbols and practices for the seasons, particularly now that I live so close to the earth — partially in it — and that we live off what we grow six or more months of the year. A very happy Solstice, Dr. Spo!
December 20, 2010 at 6:27 AM
Bill J
I am not a fan of the cold and the dark. Yes, there is hope and joy in the light that shines in the darkness and overcomes it. However, I’m also of the opinion that human beings were created to live at the beach (silly drinks with umbrellas are optional) and that somebody made a wrong turn inland years ago and we are all still paying for it (insert your own version of the story of the fall here).
December 20, 2010 at 6:52 AM
Alan
I have a soft spot for the winter solstice because my beautiful daughter was born on this, the longest night of the year. It was a very long night, indeed, for my wife.
December 20, 2010 at 7:20 AM
Java
The solstice evokes peace, stillness (frozen stuff doesn’t move much), and quiet. I find comfort in the darkness, the low angle of the sun. The rest is recuperative.
Happy Yule, dear Spo.
December 20, 2010 at 7:51 AM
Ron Tipton
Beautiful Spo. Thanks for positing this.
December 20, 2010 at 7:52 AM
Ron Tipton
I really should “preview” before I post. Let’s try this again:
“Beautiful Spo. Thanks for POSTING this. There.
December 20, 2010 at 7:53 AM
Raybob
Triple bonus this year: Solstice, Full Moon AND an Eclipse!
December 20, 2010 at 8:03 AM
D. Dave
When the sun bottoms out tomorrow, it will be punctuated with a full moon. Very nice! Another wonderful post, and another wonderful response from Will, if I may say. So much nicer to focus on the Winter Solstice than on Christmas or New Year. Didn’t we make both of those up?
December 20, 2010 at 8:36 AM
Hanuman Das
Toward the Winter Solstice
by Timothy Steele
Although the roof is just a story high,
It dizzies me a little to look down.
I lariat-twirl the cord of Christmas lights
And cast it to the weeping birch’s crown;
A dowel into which I’ve screwed a hook
Enables me to reach, lift, drape, and twine
The cord among the boughs so that the bulbs
Will accent the tree’s elegant design.
Friends, passing home from work or shopping, pause
And call up commendations or critiques.
I make adjustments. Though a potpourri
Of Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jews, and Sikhs,
We all are conscious of the time of year;
We all enjoy its colorful displays
And keep some festival that mitigates
The dwindling warmth and compass of the days.
Some say that L.A. doesn’t suit the Yule,
But UPS vans now like magi make
Their present-laden rounds, while fallen leaves
Are gaily resurrected in their wake;
The desert lifts a full moon from the east
And issues a dry Santa Ana breeze,
And valets at chic restaurants will soon
Be tending flocks of cars and SUVs.
And as the neighborhoods sink into dusk
The fan palms scattered all across town stand
More calmly prominent, and this place seems
A vast oasis in the Holy Land.
This house might be a caravansary,
The tree a kind of cordial fountainhead
Of welcome, looped and decked with necklaces
And ceintures of green, yellow, blue, and red.
Some wonder if the star of Bethlehem
Occurred when Jupiter and Saturn crossed;
It’s comforting to look up from this roof
And feel that, while all changes, nothing’s lost,
To recollect that in antiquity
The winter solstice fell in Capricorn
And that, in the Orion Nebula,
From swirling gas, new stars are being born.
December 20, 2010 at 2:59 PM
anne marie in philly
reach toward the light! happy solstice!
I have simple green electric candles in my windows; the color of hope, the color of spring. no glitz at my house, just simple and dignified light.
December 20, 2010 at 8:14 PM
Chris
Happy Solstice!!!
I have alot of festive lights on the house. We try to keeps things perky here. I tend to have bad bouts of SAD, especially on the solstice, so the lights help.
Thankfully, in retrospect, I had some health issues around Halloween so I seem to have avoided my usual SAD issues. I have been more health conscious so it has been a good and thankful season this year. Lots of friends and parties.