Off the Cuff / My Other Journal

Winter Solstice: Longest Night of the Year

The longest night of the year is tonight.

I’ll take a deep breath and start, as this is a scientific explanation. At 12:11 p.m. EST today, on December 21, the sun appeared directly overhead along the Tropic of Capricorn, at 23.5 degrees south latitude. With the Earth’s North Pole at its maximum tilt from the sun, locations north of the equator saw the sun follow its lowest and shortest arc across the southern sky. For the next six months, the days will grow longer as the sun spends more time above the horizon.

But then there are other explanations, too.

In Vatican, the solstice has to do with the Egyptian obelisk relocated to the center of St. Peter’s Square. From what I heard, mistakenly or not, the obelisk is lined up with the rising Sun as a signal of the Winter Solstice.

In Stonehenge, the sun passed through the stones after rising, at the ancient stone circle of Stonehenge, a few hours ago.

In my family, it is my daughter-in-law’s birthday. So the winter solstice is a joyous one for us.

Also, the winter solstice cannot be defined by the length of the day and night, as the length of either the day or the night is the effect, not the cause.

What can one do on a long night like this, if a person like me does not like watching TV all that much? Actually, just now, my floating fingers wrote TV as TB, which I corrected, but this made me think that my mishap had to be some kind of Freudian finger slip. (Don’t you get a dirty mind!) I meant I avoid TV despite my hubby’s urgings. Sometimes TV feels as nasty as the TB-short for tubercle bacillus.

I like to read and write, but that goes without saying, for anyone on this site likes to read and write as well. One other thing I like to do is to listen to old songs again and again, for their meaning, beauty, and perfection. And because the loud scratchy music doesn’t drown out the beautiful human voices in them. And maybe because they evoke a nostalgic feeling of longing, which also inspires me to write or read.

During the NaNo month, I did most of my writing in the wee hours in absolute silence. At that time, I could have used a long night like this one tonight.

So whatever you do, wherever you are, I hope you make good use of long evening hours of the season.

Happy Winter Solstice, everyone!