The longest night when light returns
The candles flicker, spirits yearn
Crisp moon, ice breath and silver stars
That shine through light years from afar
On this dark night all things renew
But visions eclipse, none in view
The winter’s lessons, hard and bleak
Are only for the strong to seek.
This is our sunrise on Wednesday, January 30th. (Photo by Barry Butler, who actually went out a braved the cold to get this shot! Thanks Barry!)
Today is, by historical records, the coldest day in 148 years of Chicago weather reports. Temps are at -21 degrees Fahrenheit. And that is without the wind chill factor, which brings it down to about -50.
C-c-cold does not really describe it. Frigid? Cutting? Benumbed? Hyperborean? Arctic? Siberian?
This is how we earned our nick-name “Chiberia”.
This mural is actually made out of snow!
In Chicago we have a great sense of humor. You would too, if you were stuck in -50 degree temps. Ice and snow might harden us, but they soften us too. What else can you do but laugh?
This tweet sums it up — by Chicagoan David Taylor II™@DT2ComicsChat
Everybody else be like: “Snowmaggedon! Snowpocalypse! IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD!!!!”
Chicago be like: “I might be a few minutes late to work.” #ChicagoSnow
We have been called a bloodthirsty city. They even dubbed us “murder capitol of the world.” But despite our bad rap, there is plenty of beauty in Chicago. If you can stand the blizzards.
Lake Michigan, with its ice and steam, is an eerie wonder. This video by weatherman Tom Skilling is almost surreal.
The good thing about the cold is it keeps people inside. No murders will be committed this week. There is a certain peacefulness to be found in sub zero temps. A silence and a solitude. Schools close. Many businesses close. People have no choice but to gather around the hearth and home. It is in these times we take clues from our ancestors and go into survival mode.
Good thing we’ve evolved out of loincloths!
When it is unbearably cold, neighbors check on other neighbors. We bring each other food. We dig each other out the snow banks. If someone goes on a grocery run, we offer to pick up stuff for everyone.
We get the chance to slow down and consider the importance of community, the importance of friendship, the importance of life.
Murder capitol of the world? Bah!
Just be careful when making tea in the tundra…
In the meantime, I’ll be dreaming of summer. (This is us too!)
Photo by Sven Brogan.
On this, the longest night, they waited. Waited in the Scandinavian darkness for the return of the life giving sun. They burned bonfires with Jul logs, crisp and crackling. The return of the sun brought hope that once again summer would come, the fields would ripen and food would be abundant.
Druid priests slaughtered a white bull and gathered mistletoe, believed to be a magical plant. Likewise, the people slaughtered the last of their animals. The meat was salted and stored, in hopes of warding off starvation for the remaining winter.
In what is now the United Kingdom, monuments had been built, by the ancestors or others that came before them, awe-inspiring and bold as they stand to this very day. Perhaps an ancient race of giants or aliens had dragged the megalithic rocks that would form Stonehenge and Newgrange. Somehow this ancient race had aligned the rocks perfectly to catch the rising of the solstice sun. It was here the Druid priests performed their rituals.
During the endless night of Winter Solstice, it was believed that spirits of the dead walked the earth. These were the restless and the lost who could not find peace in the afterlife. Our Germanic and Slavic ancestors honored their own loved ones who had passed in the previous year by whittling wooden dolls to resemble the dearly departed. These dolls were placed in the forests and the bone-yards as beacons, to help the spirits of family members find their way home, in case they got lost with the wandering dead.
Ancient Celtic tribes had a custom of traveling to the forests and fields, singing and shouting to drive away any evil spirits who might keep the land from prospering. They poured wine and cider on the ground to purify it.
In later years, this custom would evolve in a different form, called wassailing, popular in Victorian England. Instead of pouring the libation on the ground, they would drink it. Instead of singing to drive away evil spirits, they would sing Christmas carols. Neighbors would go to each others houses, drink a cup of ‘wassail’ punch, and bless their homes under the new sun. In yet later years, they skipped the wassail punch altogether and this tradition became simply Christmas caroling.
In ancient Rome, the great feast of Saturnalia continued (having begun on December 17th.) There was much eating and drinking and debauchery. In the long, stir-crazy darkness, people ran wild in the streets, honoring Saturn, Capricorn and all things goat.
In later years, reminiscent of Saturnalia, the revelry continued. In England, in upper-class households, a common servant was elected as The Lord of Misrule. He held a place higher than the master of the house. For one night, all roles were reversed. The lords and ladies waited on their own servants. Servants insulted their masters. In this long, glorious night, there was much dancing, masking and merriment. Come morning, the working class returned to their lot, the lords and ladies once again in command. This custom continued in England until the early 20th century.
Weird Winter Solstice Coincidences
On December 21, 1620, the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock. With the return of the sun, in the brutal New World, they went about setting up a place where they hoped to worship and live as they chose. Many died, but those that remained tilled the land, relied upon their faith and took advantage of what the rocky Eastern seaboard could offer. They faced hardship and political unrest. Their ideas, both good and evil, brought challenges. Yet their discovery was the beginning of the United States of America.
On December 21, 1898, Madame Marie Sklodowska Curie made her discovery of radium, thus ushering in the atomic age. The discovery was bittersweet, as the element itself is both helpful and deadly. Nonetheless, Marie Curie won a Nobel Prize in Physics for her efforts.
On December 21, 1968, the Apollo 8 spacecraft launched. It was the first mission to the moon that included live astronauts. What followed was the Apollo 11 moon landing, “one small step for man, one giant step for mankind.” This too, however, was an event shrouded in darkness and mystery, as the US Government cancelled all further moon missions for mysterious and unknown reasons…
This holy day is a time of darkness and mystery, a time of ancestral communication and reverence. It is also a time of hope as we celebrate the return of the sun. Whatever you choose as your Winter Solstice ritual, have a merry time! And who knows, perhaps you will make a dark discovery of your own 🙂
We welcome in the season’s dazzling whites
Snow falls like polished pearls upon the land,
When days are short and oh so long the nights
Jack Frost gives warnings with his icy hand.
White faeries dance upon the frozen pond
Their ballerina footsteps soft as lace
The Snow Queen with her mirror now makes a bond
a lonely wish that binds the human race.
The world, now shrouded in December’s mist
With sun no hope, its rays like shards of snow.
But in the velvet blackness we are kissed
by silver guidance from the moon’s bright glow.
On this December’s night begin your sleep
Of dreams fulfilling all desires deep.
Histories and Mysteries 