Winter Solstice

8 x 6, oil on canvas

Today marks the Winter Solstice; a day to celebrate LIGHT as we look toward longer days and shorter nights. Enhancing the celebration will be the brilliant light of a full moon.

I have always been intrigued to imagine what life, and this night, must have been like centuries ago when there was no electricity, when the onslaught of winter meant that many would starve or freeze. It is easy to understand why this night was so important, and why people celebrated with feasts as provisions were stockpiled for the approaching famine months, and there was joy in the lighting of candles. And today, while I was still having my morning tea, there was a celebration inside the Stonehenge circle, as onlookers watched the sun set. Centuries ago, the stones there were aligned to precisely capture the setting of the sun between two of the stones in honor of this day, and the promise of future days to come.

Light... Something to celebrate every day in every way. Wishing you the joy of family and friends, a peaceful heart, and the blessings of love and light this Christmas season.

"Somewhere across the winter world tonight

You will be hearing chimes that fill the air;

Christmas extends its all-enfolding Light

Across the distance...something we can share

You will be singing, just the same as I,

these familiar songs we know so well,

And you will see these same Stars in your sky,

And wish upon that brightest one that fell.

I shall remember you and trim my tree,

One shining Star upon the topmost bough;

I will hang wreaths of faith that all may see-

Tonight I glimpse beyond the here and now.

And all the time that we must be apart

I keep a Candle in my Heart."

Mary E. Linton