Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas

Beyond Christmas

Life in the country has presented me with a deeper contrast to that of the city than I ever would have expected. The round of the seasons is marked by much more than the calendar and change of temperature. The slow rhythm of the year beats around me, and I have fallen into step with it beyond putting the snow tires on the car.

Atrium doors look out to the West from my home. The property had been logged in the past and the new forest has not yet filled in the view to the ridge where the Adirondack Mountains begin. Behind that ridge the sun will set this evening at the furthest southern point of its yearly march, a progression of about 50 degrees from its northernmost setting six months ago. I never expected so great a change, or the slow shadow play back and forth. The inspiration for a Stonehenge is comprehensible to me now and the accuracy of those standing stones no great mystery, just careful observation. Tomorrow, the sun will set just a tick of the compass to the north.

So we celebrate. What a wonderful and human thing to do for the Solstice marks a paradox. On the one hand, the light is returning. There will be spring and summer beyond. On the other, the world has leaned from the sun for six long months, and its effect will take that long again to counter. Now is the dark time for those of northern climes. For much of our history and beyond, these would be months of siege. Our great grandfathers would have watched this evening’s sun set with trepidation, for the coming spring would shine on the freshly dug graves of those laid low by the scythe of King Death: Winter.

So we celebrate. So we thumb our noses at our greatest fear and look beyond to our greatest hope: a warm sun and a harvest good enough to put on weight and strength to stem the following winter. What a wonderful and human thing to do.

Many find this a time of deep melancholy and depression. Theirs may be Christmases remembered of other’s joy and cheer. But if we part the veil behind ‘Jesus is the reason for the season’, we find a deeper, primal reason that goes beyond Jesus, to the root of the inspiration for all myths associated with this, the darkest day of the year. We light the night in defiance of the Dark, we raise our voices in song and cheer and renew our filial bonds because only together as families and communities can the Dark be endured and Hope renewed.

It is from this spring that Christmas draws its power. One need not be Christian to drink from it.

A joyous Solstice and Christmas to you, your families, friends and communities.

Peace,
Clemsy