Solstice

[godfry n. glad]

It here!

The darkest day in the northern hemisphere. The longest light in the southern hemisphere.

Here's hoping this missive finds you toasty warm and well-lit. If not, have another drink!

Them what has wicker men, now's the time to torch them.

Best to all!

[Sock Puppet]

Damned inconvenient Solstice, keeps falling in the middle of the damned week. :rant:

I'll definitely be picking up some special bevvies on the way home tonight, either wine & mulling spices, or some ridiculously rich, thick ale.

Some evil heathen friends and I used to have a special Solstice party every year, usually with a very low-key gift exchange (either heartfelt but small gifts or a single mystery-gift sort of thing), a fiery hearth, and wintery decorations. One year when I lived in a cave-like dwelling near Ocean Beach in Ess Eff, we turned my entire apartment into a winter forest, with soft but dead leaves covering the entire floor, evergreen branches everywhere, and decadent food & drink on every available surface.

I always treated Solstice as a time for friends -- one's chosen family, rather than the one conscripted by the Fates. Let that other family dominate Christmas.

[JoeP]

Sweet solstice all!

Champagne, candles and snack foods are due in about half an hour. No special gifts. Might think about that next year; my wife and daughter are committed heathens too ... but we like gifts.

And no plans to burn anything ... again, I like the idea. The good thing about celebrating a solstice is there are two of them. And then you can have equinoctial festivities too!

[TomJoe]

This is crap. Today is officially the first day of winter? Yah right ... someone forgot to tell fall that. Winter has been here for at least a month already! RAR!

Happy Solstice? Bah humbug.

[curses]

Happy Solstice! I'm so ready for the cold to be over and the long days to start again...

[JoeP]

Champagne, candles and snack foods are due in about half an hour.Oh, and did I forget to mention? Eating outside - it's already dark, we're not far south enough for really late evenings, but the weather has been very pleasant recently - warm but not boiling, and pleasant breezes. We may get rain overnight.

[godfry n. glad]

:D This is crap. Today is officially the first day of winter? Yah right ... someone forgot to tell fall that. Winter has been here for at least a month already! RAR!

Happy Solstice? Bah humbug.

In many traditions, solstice is mid-winter/summer, rather than beginning or end of seasons. Samhain was October 31-November 1, and that was the beginning of winter, and February 1 (I forget the Celtic name for it, but 2/2 is "Ground Hog's Day") is the end of winter and the beginning of spring (in the northern hemisphere). Thus, Shakespeare's "Midsummer's Night's Dream" is to have taken place on the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere (~ June 21).

It remains the day with the least sunlight and most darkness(in the northern hemisphere, opposite in the southern).

Note that I did not call it the "first day of winter", but solstice. FF has been a caution to me to refrain from calling it "winter solstice" as the antipodeans here are celebrating mid-summer's day, or summer solstice.

Sorry, TomJoe, but it has nothing to do with zombie worship.

And, yes, Joe... It's four holidays a year, eight if you count in the Celtic holidays that fall midway betwixt them....

The Celtic year was (is) divided into eight stations that are determined by the position of the sun. Each station was marked by a festival that began at sundown on the eve of the event and lasted until sundown on the day of the event. The ancient Celts were part of an agricultural society and the changing of the seasons and the natural patterns the seasons brought helped to define the routines of their lives.

Many modern Christian Feasts coincide with these ancient feasts.

Samhain - October 31-November 1
Samhain was the Celtic New Year and also a Festival of the Dead.

Alban Arthuan - Winter Solstice - December 21-22
The Winter Solstice was the time to celebrate the birth of the Sun Child and to look forward to the lengthening of the days.

Imbolc - February 1-2
Imbolc marked the change from winter to spring and the time to begin agricultural activity.

Alban Eiler - Spring Equinox - March 20-21
The Spring Solstice brought celebrations of fertility.

Beltane - April 30-May 1
Beltane was a fire festival when all hearth fires were extinguished and bonfires were lit on hilltops. It was a time of purification.

Alban Heruin - Summer Solstice - June 21-22
At the Summer Solstice, on the longest day of the year, fires were lit to welcome the Sun.

Lughnasada - July 31-August 1
Lughnasada came at the time of the first harvest of the season, wheat.

Alban Elued - Autumn Equinox - September 21-22
The Autumn Equinox meant the last harvests of the year, fruits and vegetables.


:P

[godfry n. glad]

:dddp:

[godfry n. glad]

Damned inconvenient Solstice, keeps falling in the middle of the damned week. :rant:

I'll definitely be picking up some special bevvies on the way home tonight, either wine & mulling spices, or some ridiculously rich, thick ale.

Some evil heathen friends and I used to have a special Solstice party every year, usually with a very low-key gift exchange (either heartfelt but small gifts or a single mystery-gift sort of thing), a fiery hearth, and wintery decorations. One year when I lived in a cave-like dwelling near Ocean Beach in Ess Eff, we turned my entire apartment into a winter forest, with soft but dead leaves covering the entire floor, evergreen branches everywhere, and decadent food & drink on every available surface.

I always treated Solstice as a time for friends -- one's chosen family, rather than the one conscripted by the Fates. Let that other family dominate Christmas.

My wife and I began celebrating the winter solstice by purchasing ourselves a gift with the money we would have spent on the other, thereby assuring ourselves that we got what we wanted. We then thanked each other for the thoughtful gift (along with our other friends, who received no gifts from us). As time has passed, I've gotten into giving gifts of warmth and light (interpreted liberally) and tend to give gifts like sweaters, gloves, candles, reading lights, books, firewood and the like. And, yes, it's a day for my "chosen family" of close friends....and it sucks that it's on Wednesday. Ah, well, that's how it goes with moveable feasts.

Also, since it's a high holy day, it's a day to get wholly high.

A toasty and bright solstice to all!

[Dingfod]

Have yourself a merry, merry solstice, my friend.

[JoeP]

Champagne, candles and snack foods are due in about half an hour.Oh, and did I forget to mention? Eating outside - it's already dark, we're not far south enough for really late evenings, but the weather has been very pleasant recently - warm but not boiling, and pleasant breezes. We may get rain overnight.
Done :hammock: :cheerful:

Except the rain part. We have had some distant flashes of lightning illuminating the scattered clouds.

[Leesifer]

Sounds great, Joe.

I love watching storms/lightning. It's even better from a distance.

[JoeP]

It was a pleasant touch. Now it's raining properly, but not much thunder.

I'm seen some spectacular thunderstorms, especially in the lowveld, around the Kruger National Park - three hours of dark green sky and almost continuous flashes across a broad flat plain.

[Plant Woman]

Have a warm/cool solstice everybody. I celebrated by sleeping in until 11 am. I wanted to stay in bed for the darkest part of the year.

Hi ho, hi ho its into the light we go. Hi ho hi ho.

I think I need to go back to bed.

[justaman]

:sunbathe:

[godfry n. glad]

Have yourself a merry, merry solstice, my friend.

Damn, Warren... It's great to have you back here again. I missed you when you were gone. Wyoming takes too great a toll on this board.

I never thought I'd say this to anyone, but I hope you can get back to Salt Lake City. While you're there, have a rum and coke and smoke a cigar. In public, if possible.

[Dingfod]

On Temple Square. Funny that, while I was there, I walked around Temple Square with a cohort from my old employer, chatting about old times and telling funny stories about various coworkers we had in common while looking at all the pretty Christmas lights. Neither one of us checked our language at all. Not one person even looked at us funny, they were too wrapped up in the glorious wonderment of Temple Square.... er, Rectangle*.


*Rectangle, because a few years back, the LDS church bought the street in front of the temple and closed it to traffic... and to free speech.