Winter Solstice
Darkened hands seek
that crack beneath the door -
where shimmering
gloves of light
elongate
-Susan Schaefer
©2009
From the Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor December 21, 2009
In the northern hemisphere, today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year and the longest night. It's officially the first day of winter. It's officially the first day of winter and one of the oldest known holidays in human history. Anthropologists believe that solstice celebrations go back at least 30,000 years, before humans even began farming on a large scale. Many of the most ancient stone structures made by human beings were designed to pinpoint the precise date of the solstice. The stone circles of Stonehenge were arranged to receive the first rays of midwinter sun.
1 comment:
How wonderful to remind us. SOLSTICE – for a moment the EARTH will seem to stand still, as it reaches the furthest limit from the sun and then re-turns. What a wonderful time of the year starts now, time of reversion, contemplation, and unnoticed growth. The glove of light wraps the light insight to GERMINATE and grow like barely sown in the autumn.
Post a Comment