Every year at The Winter solstice I write an entry of great thought the type that best happens in the cold bleak midwinter. [1] In this annual meditation I want to wish Spo-fans in both hemispheres a happy new year/season’s greetings and I try throw in a nugget of inspirational wisdom. The Winter Solstice entry is The Spo-reflection equivalent to The Queen’s speech at Christmas. Lord only knows how Her Majesty manages to do this year after year but if she can do it so can I.
If modern man bothers to celebrate The Winter Solstice at all it is a quiet time to light some candles or the fireplace and drink wine or hot cocoa. [2] In my comfy chair with a roof over my head it is hard to imagine how frightening and foreboding it was for my ancestors to witness the retreat and standstill of the light into darkness. Every year my ancient ancestors had the collective angst the winter sun may not return. Lighting fires at The Solstice wasn’t a jolly celebration but a fearful ritual imploring the gods to bring back the sun which was Life. [3] There was also the worry about food supplies: would there be enough food to last until spring time. It was a dark and ominous time.
2018 seemed a slow slide into darkness and ignorance. I won’t rehash the politics and events; you know them yourself. The minds and hearts of the nation – nay world – resemble my Vikings ancestors with their fears will we see the return of light or sink into Hel? [4] On a hopeful note perhaps like the Solstice we have hit the nadir and it is ‘all uphill from here’. This day of Winter Solstice I once again light the candles to welcome light and say a prayer for the return of light and wisdom.
[1] The PC name for this month’s solstice is The December Solstice to remind us as half the world isn’t experiencing winter but summer. My Nordic genetics finds this a hard one to do, so I will continue using The Winter Solstice. Please don’t write in. The Board of Directors Here at Spo-Reflections are Nordic as the Northern Lights and won’t get a herring.
[2] If you are Urs Truly a good snort of scotch.
[3] Sometimes sacrifices were done to help with the petitions. You would think the yearly return of the sun would comfort their worry but it didn’t.
[4] In the Norse mythos Hel was a frozen dreary place; it was where we got our word for Hell.
19 comments
December 21, 2018 at 4:13 AM
David Godfrey
Happy Solstice to you! From here forward, a little more light in each day.
December 21, 2018 at 7:08 AM
Urspo
Let us hope so!
December 21, 2018 at 4:24 AM
anne marie in philly
good yuletide to one and all! and tomorrow the light begins to increase!
December 21, 2018 at 7:09 AM
Urspo
Slowly but surely – unless the gods decide nah
December 21, 2018 at 8:08 AM
Debra She Who Seeks
Winter Solstice blessings to you and Someone.
December 21, 2018 at 8:59 AM
Urspo
And to you too my dear dear friend
December 21, 2018 at 8:29 AM
rjjs8878
Happy solstice.
December 21, 2018 at 8:59 AM
Urspo
And to you my blogger buddy
December 21, 2018 at 10:06 AM
Old Lurker
It must be nice to have hope that the light will return.
December 21, 2018 at 11:32 AM
Urspo
Yes. That is why thems in the north do this sort of stuff
December 21, 2018 at 10:26 AM
Ron
This is the most dangerous time for our country in my lifetime Spo. I just wrote a political rant. I had to get it off my chest. Not only do we have a hateful, chaotic incompetent leading our country, what is even worse is the Congressional Republicans who enable him. And I am at a loss to understand the Trump Base. All I can say is that they are truly deplorable. A knuckledragging cult who are so blinded by their hate of diversity. I hope I live long enough to see this nightmare to come to an end.
December 21, 2018 at 11:32 AM
Urspo
Let us hope you bury us all including the miscreants and the deluded.
December 21, 2018 at 4:13 PM
Ron
That’s my plan!
December 21, 2018 at 12:20 PM
Moving with Mitchell
I will pray for the return of light and wisdom, too. What a day!
December 21, 2018 at 3:50 PM
Todd Gunther
Happy Solstice, Winter, December and otherwise!
December 22, 2018 at 5:51 AM
Paul Brownsey
The nights be drawin’ out now, squire, b’ain’t they?
December 22, 2018 at 5:29 PM
Urspo
Is this a quote from something?
December 23, 2018 at 3:35 AM
Paul Brownsey
Not a quotation, exactly. But in the UK–or at least in Scotland–it’s customary to say something like this, in a jokey way, when conversation dries up; when you need to say something but there’s nothing interesting or relevant to say.
December 23, 2018 at 2:24 PM
Steven
I dearly pray for the return of light and wisdom in the New Year. 2018 has been a slow, painful train crash that we all have seen approaching for a long time. I yearn for March 22, 2019, for that is the day that the sun stays above the roofline of my office and I no longer roast. 🙂