Almanac: Happy Solstice!
Sunrise over the winter solstice standing stone of the UMass Sunwheel. I took this several days before the actual solstice but the position of the sun at sunrise moves so little near the solstice that the alignment was nearly perfect.
The summer solstice always comes too early for me. It always feels wrong somehow that the days start growing shorter on June 20 or 21. The winter solstice, however, always cheers me and comes not a moment too soon. As much as I love winter sports, and winter itself, I am always glad that on December 20 or 21 (the date varies from year to year) the days begin to lengthen again.
We are now on the brightening side of the winter solstice and many are celebrating (or have already celebrated) various traditions, all of which involve the central theme of light. The candles, bonfires, Christmas tree lights, and vast range of lights used to decorate homes all hearken back to the earliest roots of this time when the sun pauses in its southward descent in the sky and begins to shift northwards again, bringing longer days and shorter nights.
I’ll be celebrating the return of light with a hoard of family members, so instead of a normal column I’m going to post some photos I took over the course of the year that never made it into a column. Almanac will resume its quirky ways in 2022. Blessings and best wishes to you all!
I’m glad you didn’t taste that flashy millipede, Steve. It looks a lot like the one described in this article:
https://blog.nature.org/science/2017/10/17/millipede-protects-itself-cyanide-yellow-spotted-bugs/
I enjoy the column.