Past the winter solstice

It feels great to go through the winter solstice and suddenly rejoice at the prospect of longer, brighter days. The Winter Solstice also has some important historical and cultural significance. 

Many groups hold festivals or celebrations around the world such as the Dongzhi Festival in China, Yaldā Night in Iran, and Yule in the Northern Hemisphere. 

For me too, this transition is cause for celebration. It’s where I find the full sense of the Christmas message, a form of rebirth, or starting over if you wish. It’s a good time to end the negative thoughts that are still lingering or expel the few that have managed to enter and settle into our minds. 

Look at it as an advanced “spring clean-up”. This for us in Park City isn’t that bad as days decline less than up north. We are at New York’s latitude, and yesterday we got 9 hours and 14 minutes of daylight. Far less were available in Vancouver and even less in Fairbanks, Alaska!

The sad part is that the same can be said the other way around as far as my fellow human friends from the Southern Hemisphere are concerned. True, they’re still enjoying summer!