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This is the solstice, the still point of the sun, its cusp and midnight, the year's threshold and unlocking, where the past lets go of and becomes the future; the place of caught breath.
—Margaret Atwood
One way of celebrating the Solstice is to consider it a sacred time of reflection, release, restoration, and renewal.
—Sarah Ban Breathnach
In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.
—Albert Camus |
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The northern hemisphere winter solstice will be here again soon. This is the summer solstice to those living south of the equator. To those living on the equator, it's just another day. Okay, no, not really; it's still a solstice.
I've seen it referred to as the December solstice, with its counterpart called the June solstice, but, despite their succinct nature, I personally prefer not to reference the Gregorian calendar. The solstice is a worldwide phenomenon, regardless of what calendar one uses.
As noted in the word's Wikipedia entry, which I don't feel bad about referencing because I'm writing an editorial and not a PhD dissertation, "The word solstice is derived from the Latin sol ("sun") and sistere ("to stand still"), because at the solstices, the Sun's declination appears to "stand still"; that is, the seasonal movement of the Sun's daily path (as seen from Earth) pauses at a northern or southern limit before reversing direction."
This isn't wrong, but I suspect it might be confusing to those unfamiliar with astronomy. The page I just linked goes on to explain it in more detail, but I thought I'd try to clarify these things even more.
There are at least three things going on, here:
1) The axial tilt of the Earth. It always points at the same places in the sky, called the North and South Celestial Poles. Polaris, called the North Star, is near (but not precisely on) the North Celestial Pole. The southern one doesn't have an equivalent bright star. (I should note that these poles move, too, but so slowly that we can leave it out of the discussion.)
2) Because of this, when the (terrestrial) North Pole is in darkness, the South Pole is in sunlight, and vice-versa.
3) As you may have noticed, the Earth rotates with respect to the Sun approximately once every 24 hours.
Because of (3), from the perspective of an observer on Earth, the Sun never literally "stands still," and this may be a source of confusion. What happens is that the Sun, at local noon (that is, the point at which the daystar achieves its maximum distance from the horizon), appears to move up and down throughout the year. It's at its highest near the summer solstice for whichever hemisphere you're in; and it's at its lowest local-noon point near the winter solstice.
I'm sure you have also heard that the Earth's orbit is an ellipse, so the Earth's distance from the Sun also varies. A common misconception is that this is what creates the seasons. But its contribution is tiny compared to that of axial tilt, hence the assertion that axial tilt is the reason for the season.
In fact, the Earth is very close to perihelion (closest point to the sun) at the Northern Hemisphere Winter Solstice, and very close to aphelion (furthest point) at the Northern Hemisphere Summer Solstice.
(Since this is the Fantasy newsletter, I'll point out that it's possible to have a planet with an orbit elliptical enough for the orbit to be the major contributor to seasonal temperature variations. Thus, it's acceptable to use this idea in Fantasy stories, as long as you're not trying to set them on our familiar Earth.)
Another common misconception is that our distant ancestors were afraid that the Sun would go away entirely, and needed to entice it back with parties and/or rituals. I find this insulting to our ancestors, who, while more ignorant than we are, surely noticed that the Sun's southward path would always reverse, and vice-versa. Hell, some of them made giant stone monuments to keep track of these things. While superstition has always been with us, ancient humans were far more attuned to sky changes than we generally are. It's far more likely that solstice festivals were celebrations, not occasions to plead for the Sun's return.
I'll just point out one final thing: while a "season" is considered, from an astronomical perspective, to stretch from solstice to equinox, or equinox to solstice, there are other definitions of season. Meteorological winter, for example, runs from December 1 to the day before March 1 (usually February 28, but, you know... leap years) in the Northern Hemisphere. The meteorological definition of other seasons is similar; this is because weather patterns tend to lag the solar position. Also, some cultures considered Northern Hemisphere winter to run from halfway between the fall equinox and winter solstice, to halfway between the winter solstice and spring equinox (in other words, approximately Halloween through Groundhog Day). Hence, you get terms like "midwinter" for the winter solstice, which can also be confusing.
In any case, whatever you celebrate this month, remember the real reason for the season: the solstice, which occurs this year on Saturday, December 21 at 4:19am Eastern Standard Time (which is Writing.com time, so I'm referencing that instead of UTC). And have no fear: the Sun will rise again. |
Some Fantasy for your winter (or summer) enjoyment:
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Last time, in "Healing" , I talked about the role of healing in fantasy.
Annette  : I use magical healing in my fantasy stories. To keep it from being just a simple "one and done," I limit the people who can use that kind of magic. Additionally, healing spells always backfire on the spellcaster. A healer can experience anywhere from mild discomfort like a tremor or a headache and all the way up to death. That's why it's not easily available and only used after other, conventional methods, have been applied.
Yes, that's one way to keep the stakes interesting for illness or injury in one's stories.
Santeven Quokklaus  : In my main fantasy world, healing comes from a lot of nature and plant/herb lore. I even did a heap of research on it when my world got under way so that the cures made sense in the setting and did not involve magic at all - just good knowledge of herbs. There is a lot of evidence that old ladies were accused of being witches by Christians because they had this lore; they weren't conversing with the Devil, they knew nature.
Research is good. Also, it's possible that anything from "nature" was considered to be "of the Devil," harking back to the Gnostic influence on Western religion.
Quick-Quill  : Thank you for sharing my story.
Thank you for writing it!
Well, that's all for me for this turn of the cycle. See you next year! Until then,
DREAM ON!!!
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Fantasy: December 11, 2024 Issue [#12879]
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