Winter Solstice

On By Mick CanningIn mumming, solstice, winter

I’m always pleased to see the Winter Solstice.

Today is the shortest day of the year. Where I live, we will get approximately half the daylight hours that we will get during the Summer Solstice. Actually, slightly less. We get up in the dark and it is dark again long before supper time. The weather is cold and predominantly miserable.

But from today the daylight hours lengthen – at first imperceptibly, but gradually it becomes noticeable the hours of daylight are increasing. Finally, there is an end to the relentless lengthening of darkness, and within a few weeks it will become obvious that the world is, indeed, moving towards a time of warmth again.

Yet there are already new plants coming up; new growth that has been prompted by…what? When they broke the surface of the ground a few weeks ago the days were still getting shorter and certainly no warmer. Nature is strong and determined. Winter is never a lifeless time of death and decay. There is dormancy and rest, but also a lot of growth if one takes the trouble to look for it.

I’m thinking longingly of Spring, of renewal and growth. In a couple of hours I’m off to see a mumming play – perhaps I’ll leave you to Google that one – down on the Kent coast. Beer will be involved, of course, in line with the best folk traditions. Old – possibly ancient – celebrations of the turning of the year and the approach of Spring.

15 thoughts on “Winter Solstice”

  5. It’s amazing how similar what you describe is to what I’m experiencing here, so far away. Getting up and going to bed in the dark, cold, gray weather, the longing for spring…I always feel good about the Winter Solstice, too. It would be nice if we had some of the old Celtic traditions here but we’re a new country with immigrants form diverse cultures and indigenous tribes as well. That does make New World life interesting. Some of the spring bulbs have come up here, too – I wish they would wait. 😉 I even recognize the little plants growing around your strong green stems. Happy Solstice, Mick, and a peaceful New Year!

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    1. Presumably that means there are a few different traditions floating around, Lynn, which must also be interesting. Do the indigenous folk have any particular traditions around the Solstice?

      Happy Solstice to you, too, and also a peaceful New Year.

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      1. I wish I knew the answer to your question but I don’t. So much was lost when people were killed intentionally and smallpox was rampant. Many people were forced to go to schools where their native languages were erased in favor of English. It goes on and on. I was fortunate to attend a small. somewhat informal ceremony arranged by Samish elders here in honor of an Orca that died in captivity – this whale had been captured from a cove near here many years ago, then consigned to perform in shows far away. That ceremony was very moving for me – for someone who could have been looking on, it might not have seemed like much was happening. What’s left of the cultures is not easy to access by outsiders and I respect that.

        Sorry for the long-winded reply – keep cozy & warm – and creative. 😉

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        1. Don’t apologise – I find it all fascinating, and although we still have a wealth of folk tradition here, I’m sure we have lost so much. Some of the poetry I write is based around that, in fact, and I ought to write more. I’m taking every opportunity I get, now, to read about them and to see what I can.

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