It was beginning winter,
An in-between time,
The landscape still partly brown:
The bones of weeds kept swinging in the wind,
Above the blue snow. – Theodore Roethke, “The Lost Son”
The sun reached its southernmost point (at the Tropic of Capricorn) at 11:12 GMT today, and since that was only an hour later than my blog usually posts I couldn’t resist synchronizing the events so that this appeared at the exact moment of the solstice. Today is the first day of astronomical winter in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of summer in the Southern; it’s the day pagans call Yule, the defining event for which the various winter holidays are celebrated and thus the real “reason for the season” despite the contradictory claims of Christians. If you’re wondering why Christmas doesn’t fall exactly on the solstice any more you may be interested in reading my first Christmas column, which also explains the very dark origins of the celebration and some of the ways we still observe it (teaser: some of you may feel the subject matter is more appropriate to Halloween). Nor is that essay all I’ve written on the subject: so extensive is the lore around Yuletide that I’ve devoted quite a number of posts to it, many of which are listed and linked in my column for one year ago today.
I wish for my readers health, happiness and prosperity in this most joyous season and throughout the coming solar year. Blessed Be!
You posted this at 11:13 a.m. GMT, two minutes after the start of the solstice–or, two minutes after the Mayans said that the world would end. Usually you post at 10:02 a.m. GMT.
No, that’s only when you receive notification; it actually posts a minute earlier. You have just discovered the actual speed of email on your system. 😉
Or maybe the world did end and we just haven’t gotten the memo yet. That’s the outcome I’m hoping for.
You’d know if the world ended. It starts first with earthquakes, then birds and snakes and aeroplanes… Lenny Bruce is not afraid. And Michale Stipe will feel fine.
Joyous Yule and Blessed Be, my sweet! I’m a frequent lurker, and commend you on your blog. It has consistently provided more no-bullshit commentary about sex than most of the sex-educator sites around, and you’re just more darn entertaining. Keep up the good work, and for the new year may you finally do that thing you’ve been meaning to do!
Don’t know how you’re celebrating, but me and my oldest will be harvesting mistletoe at midnight and cracking open a two-year old bottle of mead . . . made from the blood of a dead snowman. Hope your celebration is at least as merry.
And I’ve studied the Mayan prophecy for years, and the only thing I can figure is that we cross the Galactic Equator. Maybe 5% chance of zombie apocalypse, tops. Other than that, partly cloudy.
I kind of considered the whole thing to have already taken place- starting in the 80’s, the world had undergone a rapid transformation into ‘the digital age’ and if that not the hallmark of a whole new world, I have no idea what is. You could even argue that, just in the last few years, we have reached a new pinnacle of humanity, starting with the industrial revolution and culminating with the first signs of singularity (the blurring the line between man and machine), which we are rapidly approaching.
Welcome to the age of techo-evolution!
Sadly, the sun didn’t shine at Newgrange, Ireland for the solstice.
Blessed be and Happy Yule! I’ll be making some mulled wine and probably eating a ridiculous amount of baked goods.
Had breakfast this morning with my favorite Wiccan High Priestess for my birthday and Solstice; so Happy Solstice, a Joyous Yule, Merry Christmas, Munificent Chanukah, and a Cool Kwanza to one and all.
Maggie in case you missed this in NYTimes: http://nyti.ms/U1h43i
This was interesting, and I won’t be surprised if Maggie puts it in her next TW3. I do have something to say, but will hold off until the new week.
BTW, we’re still here.