by winter solstice fog
It is a foggy winter solstice morning, conducive to stirring some ancient pagan feelings. Being too lazy to go out, I went searching through my photo archives for certain recalled images to mark this occasion.
Long ago I wrote, in part:
Those of us in the northern Hemisphere can now breathe a collective sigh of relief that the sun has not disappeared forever and the days will be getting longer! Spring will come and we can begin planting again. I think of all the ancient cultures of the world that observed the solstices with festivals, rituals and great architecture to appease the spirits, long before Pope Julius tacked the celebration onto Saturnalia, the Roman winter festival, or jule became Christmas. It seems to me that we’ve lost some connection to nature’s rhythms and a universality of a common human celebration not based on a multitude of divisive religious doctrines.
Happy Winter Solstice, dear readers. Now we can watch the days get longer, a few minutes at a time. Enjoy your holiday preparations for the celebration of light.
December 21, 2014 in Culture, Nature, Photoworks by Marja-Leena
Lovely post, and we too will be celebrating the Winter Solstice with good food and wine. (Actually, as Lucy is in charge of the kitchen, it’s always good food and wine.) As one Child of the Light to another, the very best of the season’s greetings.
P.S. I see I have already wished you season’s greetings, but one can never have too much of a good thing, uh!
Tom, thanks for the multiple good wishes, always appreciated! It would be lovely to share a feast together but will do it in spirit – cheers!
Always glad to be reminded of Winter Solstice…our connection to the earth. Thank you for the perfect images.
Thanks, Naomi! Besides our connection to the earth, I like to think of our very long ago ancestors who feared the darkness and celebrated the return of the light.
Happy Winter Solstice, dear Marja-Leena! It is good to be in touch with the rhythm and rhyme of Nature. Here, we had a surprisingly sunny day. Now I’m lighting a beeswax candle and enjoying a little Cherry Liqueur/Brandy cordial in celebration! Prost!
Thanks, dear R and I raise a glass with you!
I drove back from Albany through fog last night, and it was wonderfully creepy in the dark… I like these! Days lengthening… that’s good for us. Light-cravers that we are.
Marly, ‘wonderfully creepy’ sounds good as long as you don’t get lost. That happened to my husband decades ago when we were brand new residents in Vancouver. One very foggy pre-Christmas night he got lost trying to find his way to the airport to pick up his sister, whose flight was delayed several times due to said fog.