The Gateway of the Year

the winter solstice... the day of the "standing still sun," the turning point of the year in the northern hemisphere.  from the summer solstice on through the autumnal equinox the sun has progressively been getting lower and lower in the sky until - on the day of the winter solstice, it reaches its lowest point.  the shortest day.  for as far back as we know anything about humans, in almost every culture in every inhabited corner of the earth, this day was noted, marked, celebrated.  it was a day of holy awe, mixed (as awe almost always is) with fear.  what if the sun does not return this year?  what if we remain in darkness?  for people whose lives depended on first hunting and gathering sustenance, then growing and raising it, the weather was of deep and primary importance.  so what amount to solar observatories were built, and observations made; then ceremonies, feasting, antic noise to attract the sun's attention, coax it back, took place.  the celebrations of light we know today are all descendants of this heritage.  it is my intention to spend some time as we approach the winter holidays discussing solstice/yule/christmas traditions and their linkage. 

the winter solstice takes place in late december, this year's will happen on December 21, around 9 pm CST.  this snowy day, this frozen night, remind me to pay attention to the natural world around me, not to hide from it, to realize we are approaching a fundamental seasonal hemispheric event.  i'll be posting entries about this for the next couple of weeks.  or, you could go to this lovely site and spend the next two weeks browing through their wondrous lore.