Winter Solstice
The Shortest Day, Photos, and Likable Links
I celebrate the birth of the Divine,
And the return of the Saturnian reign;—
My songs are carols sung at every shrine,
Proclaiming “Peace on earth, good will to men.”
—Longfellow, The Poet’s Calendar
The Longest Night
Happy Solstice to fellow Northern Hemispherians! (Hemisphere dwellers? Hemispheregians? Hemisphergansters? People-tired-of-darkness?) At any rate, the sun is working bankers’ hours and it is officially the first day of Winter on our calendars. After today, we will gain seconds of daylight each day until March, when it will accelerate to about 3 minutes per day. So while we still have a long, dark winter ahead of us, take heart because the Sun has begun its return to us.
December Rush/ December Rest
How does this Solstice find you? Curled up with a book and a cup of tea in the dark of evening? Binging shows? Fighting the downward pull of your heavy eyelids as you log on for work emails or vow to bake those cookies for [insert event here]? I’m sure many of you have schedules like ours in December, packed with school concerts, Candy cane-Elf-Favorite sports team Pre-winter break spirit days, office potlucks, and late night runs to pick up Secret Santa gifts. You try to keep to some traditions in the midst of busy modern life: putting up the Christmas tree, baking from great-grandma’s recipes, maybe even mailing out cards (if so, you bow to no one, my friend, & I am in awe)? Perhaps, also like us, you have other things to fit in: surgery before your health insurance deductible restarts in 2024 (U.S. readers, you know this urgency), sick kids during a particularly icky respiratory season, unexpected car repairs because of course the mini-van thinks it should be on the gift list (Dear Santa, I would like a new transmission…), or big life decisions like travel opportunities or job changes.
I think many of us intuit that something is off kilter all year but it is heightened in December, when we long to rest but the demands on our time and energy reach a frenetic pace. The rhythm of the agricultural year still in our DNA, fighting against the expectation to be always on and consistently available in our technological world. Here is your permission, from a fellow exhausted human, to RSVP “no,” to cut down your shopping list, to pick the simplest of grandma’s recipes to make this year, to watch a movie with your family instead of logging in to the office drama, and to light a candle with your morning coffee before heading out the door.
What of the garden, you say? Well, Phillip is trying something different this winter. He’s tucked it in with tarps, in hopes that it will slow the weed growth come Spring. He saw that they do it for allotments in the U.K. Please weigh in with your thoughts if you’ve tried this.
Links to Like
Substack writers were on fire this week with the Solstice & Christmas season posts. I’m sharing some of my favorites here:
Ideas for marking the 12 Days of Christmas + poetry (& click on the links in this post for
‘s series on Thomasmas, which begins today):
Myth of the Eternal Hunter & its possible origin in flocks of geese:
C.S. Lewis’ Dissection of Christmas:
World War II era recipe for Turkish delight, so you can see what all Edmund’s fuss was about:
The Solstice is tonight at 10:27 p.m. That is the moment when our hemisphere is tilted farthest away from the Sun. Brrrrr! Stay warm, make time for rest, and remember that the darkness will soon diminish!
—Erin, in Michigan
Okay I never made the connection between Edmund’s love of Turkish delight and the war rations. That is SO INSIGHTFUL! I like the stuff but it was definitely an acquired taste and I don’t think I’d sell out family members for it. But this is a whole thing.
Well of course, in my part of the world, it's the longest day and the shortest night. We look forward to summer and beaches, swimming and summer fruit and veg.
But I've made my mum's recipes for Christmas cakes and biscuits, mayonnaise, brandy butter and Christmas Pudding. Previous generations served such beautiful food and its a privilege to keep those recipes going. As well as adding in new ones from around the globe.
Thank you for your posts and here's to a calm and safe Christmas for everyone.