Winter Solstice
Without Prejudice
The winter solstice is the day when the Sun reaches its furthest north position in the sky and starts moving back towards the south. It marks one of the main turning points in the year with the others being the equinoxes and the summer solstice in December. This year winter solstice is on Friday 21 June at 3:04 pm AEST. From then on the days start becoming longer and night times shorter.
In ancient Europe the winter solstice (in December in the northern hemisphere) was a time of celebration. The Romans had a week-long celebration called Saturnalia during which all wars had to stop and courts did not try criminals. Later this festival became Dies Natalis of Sol Invicti or the Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun celebrated on 25 December each year.
The winter solstice is here at last. I look forward to this day all winter, the thought of days getting longer days and shorter nights fills me with a feeling of exhilaration every year. I wait with bated foggy breath that steams up the windows in the frosted over car as I race around doing errands on this the coldest morning for a decade.
I had decided to do something about my S.A.D. this year and bought brighter than bright light bulbs and sat underneath them for at least half an hour each day. I forced myself to go to bed at a set hour rather than giving in to the insomnia that goes with S.A.D. A cold room, warm bedding and a few good books took care of that problem.
I gave myself plenty of projects to complete and kept at them till I finished. I sold on EBay, I wrote and wrote and received good figures on both. I kept frugal, doing without the car for three weeks and riding or walking, ecologically better for the world and healthier for me. I kept busy, doing the garden and laying plans for the Spring. Weeding, spraying, cracking branches on trees, sawing, fertilising, planting.
So the first month of winter nearly done and only two to go. The winter solstice putting a full stop to the long dark flowing sentence of winter and. I know one day soon, I will open the front door and smell the rich heady smell of Spring. That delicious smell that prickles the skin, sends a shiver of anticipation coursing through my veins, the heart quickening, the senses overwhelmed with a warm smell of spring. A long remembered scent of new mown grass, earth, warm blossoms, raspberries and white peaches.
A smell of promise of long days at the beach, leaving only when the kids get grizzly and the breeze starts to cool sun kissed skin. The feeling of sand under foot and the gravel of the car park. The cool rush of water on your feet at the outdoor shower and the hot gritty feeling of slipping your feet back into your sandals. The burning bitumen wavering in the heat and the sudden down turning of the handles of the windows in the car as we release the heat inside, almost a sigh of hot air.
And nights at the drive in when it seems criminal not to try and sneak a couple of kids in. The screen huge and the kids running riot in the dark and aiming straight for the canteen so we can spend the better part of $50 on fatty undercooked chips, drenched in salt and burgers that you could use for shoe leather and not complaining. Syrupy cold drinks where the ice melts almost immediately and you suck and make loud rude noises to amuse the kids. And you want another.
The winter solstice is here at last. I look forward to this day all winter, the thought of days getting longer days and shorter nights fills me with a feeling of exhilaration every year. I wait with bated foggy breath that steams up the windows in the frosted over car as I race around doing errands on this the coldest morning for a decade.
I had decided to do something about my S.A.D. this year and bought brighter than bright light bulbs and sat underneath them for at least half an hour each day. I forced myself to go to bed at a set hour rather than giving in to the insomnia that goes with S.A.D. A cold room, warm bedding and a few good books took care of that problem.
I gave myself plenty of projects to complete and kept at them till I finished. I sold on EBay, I wrote and wrote and received good figures on both. I kept frugal, doing without the car for three weeks and riding or walking, ecologically better for the world and healthier for me. I kept busy, doing the garden and laying plans for the Spring. Weeding, spraying, cracking branches on trees, sawing, fertilising, planting.
So the first month of winter nearly done and only two to go. The winter solstice putting a full stop to the long dark flowing sentence of winter and. I know one day soon, I will open the front door and smell the rich heady smell of Spring. That delicious smell that prickles the skin, sends a shiver of anticipation coursing through my veins, the heart quickening, the senses overwhelmed with a warm smell of spring. A long remembered scent of new mown grass, earth, warm blossoms, raspberries and white peaches.
A smell of promise of long days at the beach, leaving only when the kids get grizzly and the breeze starts to cool sun kissed skin. The feeling of sand under foot and the gravel of the car park. The cool rush of water on your feet at the outdoor shower and the hot gritty feeling of slipping your feet back into your sandals. The burning bitumen wavering in the heat and the sudden down turning of the handles of the windows in the car as we release the heat inside, almost a sigh of hot air.
And nights at the drive in when it seems criminal not to try and sneak a couple of kids in. The screen huge and the kids running riot in the dark and aiming straight for the canteen so we can spend the better part of $50 on fatty undercooked chips, drenched in salt and burgers that you could use for shoe leather and not complaining. Syrupy cold drinks where the ice melts almost immediately and you suck and make loud rude noises to amuse the kids. And you want another.
