Winter at Colorado National Monument
Today is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. Sunset is at 4:55pm where I live today, but because I live in a valley, the sun sets here about 15 minutes sooner, so, more like 4:40 is when I’ll have no further light to play with. John has PT at the hospital today, and we usually attend an educational session for about an hour afterwards on Wednesdays. At that point, I’ll need to beeline it straight to the park. My plan is to drop John off at a local restaurant where he can hang out in the warmth and maybe drink a cup of tea while I’m doing my solstice thing at the park. Getting the timing right is the key to success with this endeavor.
The word “solstice” means sol (sun) and stice (standing still). The sun hangs very low in the southern sky here in The Northern hemisphere this time of year, and for a few days before and after the solstice, it appears to not be moving from that position at all. The actual solstice occurs at 4:48 this evening, so right about the time of the sunset. The solstice isn’t a day-long event, it lasts only a moment, and marks the official beginning of winter. The actual first FULL day of winter will be tomorrow.
Meteorologically, winter begins December 1st here in the northern hemisphere. This is the date that the writers at The Old Farmer’s Almanac use for instance, because meteorological winter occurs during the coldest months of the year, which are December, January and February. Their concern is sowing, planting, and reaping. According to this way of thinking, winter begins December first and ends at the end of February. March 1st marks the first day of spring. I know that here in western Colorado where I live, it is not too cold to plant some early spring crops in March: think, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, onions, and radishes. These are all good cool weather, or early spring crops. In some cultures, this date marks mid-winter, and not the beginning of winter. A song normally sung at Christmastime is called, “In the Deep Midwinter” and is meant to coincide with the winter solstice. Shakespeare’s play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” takes place in mid-June, close to the summer solstice. I tend to follow this line of thinking myself; more or less.
To learn more about this, you can study the Celtic calendar. The Celtic calendar was constructed around four seasons, called quarter days, and then those seasons or quarter days were divided in half again, creating four cross-quarter days. These cross-quarter days marked the beginning of each season. This means that for the Celts, spring began on the cross-quarter day known as Imbolc, which corresponds roughly with Ground Hog Day, and winter began on the cross-quarter day known as Samhain, (pronounced Saa wn) which we celebrate as Halloween, and in some countries is celebrated as The Day of the Dead. This is when we remember those loved ones who have passed on before us. This is also a commemoration of the end of the growing season and the season of rest, known as winter. The church celebrates these days as All Saints Day and All Souls Day, on November 1st and 2nd respectively. These are the same days thought to mark the beginning of winter according to The Celtic calendar. It may have marked their official New Year as well. In this way, the old year officially dies as of October 31st and a new year begins on November 1st.
Another word that ends in “stice,” is Armistice. Armistice Day occurs on November 11th In this country, and we celebrate it as “Veteran’s Day.” The word Armistice, broken down into two parts, means “the stilling or standing still of arms;” arms being the weapons of a warrior. At the end of WW1, weapons were stilled at 11am on the 11th day of November 1918. Thus, when you see the sign 11:11, you may stop momentarily and think of peace. It’s become odd to me how many times during the day I see this sign, either on the clock or in some other context. It’s good to think of peace. Better yet, it is better to practice it.
Adventures on Earth and Beyond 