Today begins winter with the longest night of the year, universally celebrated as the Winter Solstice. Low light impacts us by decreasing our energy, making us moody, and craving bright clear warm skies. We acknowledge the power of darkness cannot totally dispel the light. A crease of longer light begins its journey, unwinding as each day lengthens.
"More evident from high latitudes, a hemisphere's winter solstice occurs on the shortest day and longest night of the year, when the sun's daily maximum elevation in the sky is at its lowest.The winter solstice itself lasts only a moment in time, so other terms are used for the day on which it occurs, such as "midwinter", or the "shortest day". It is often considered the "extreme of winter" (Dongzhiin the Chinese calendar). In meteorology, winter in the Northern Hemisphere spans the entire period of December through February. The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days. The earliest sunset and latest sunrise dates differ from winter solstice, however, and these depend on latitude, due to the variation in the solar day throughout the year caused by the Earth's elliptical orbit (see earliest and latest sunrise and sunset).
Worldwide, interpretation of the event has varied across cultures, but many have held a recognition of rebirth, involving holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations around that time." -Wikipedia
Here's to our predecessor of Christmas, the Winter Solstice. May you allow the
soft light of winter's shortest day fill you with loving expectation for the New
Year. Happy 2016!
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