Winter Solstice, Stonehenge Solstice

At the moment I am writing, 10:28 AM MST, the sun at at the Northern Hemisphere Winter Solstice point. In the new calendar, this is the first day of winter, but in the old calendar, this is Mid-Winter's Night, when the daylight hours are the least of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. The revolution of Planet Earth around our star is the Master Clock by which human beings have been counting time for millenia.


The Chemistry Geek Princess is in England right now, and she is/did go to Stonehenge today.
Although the big Stonehenge day is the Summer Solstice, I think it would be pretty cool to be at Stonehenge for the Winter Solstice as well.

This picture of Stonehenge in winter was downloaded from Google Images, because the CGP has not sent pictures yet.




Here in New Mexico, the Solstice dawned pink, as the incoming frontal clouds indicated an unsettled upper atmosphere.
The storm going through Washington State, Oregon, and northern California, will reach us tomorrow evening and Tuesday.
Our side of the Sandias are in the high-pressure cold-front side of the clouds, but behind the mountains, a warmer, wetter air mass bringing low-pressure is approaching, bringing us snow a few days hence.




We captured images of the Solstice sunrise from two new locations this year. The incoming clouds made them dramatic indeed!

Here is the Sunrise at Teypana and Via Sedillo. This corner is our Winter Solstice marker, because on this day, the sunrise is directly over the road going to the top of the ridge in front of our house.

And here is the Solstice sunrise from the top of the ridge itself. The clouds will soon cover the sun, as it rises up behind them, so we will not see the sunrise from the meadow behind our house this day.

The Winter Solstice is the astronomical event from which Northern Hemisphere cultures took their midwinter festivals: the Celtic Yule, the Roman Feast of the Unconquerable Sun, the Indian Devali, and the Jewish Hannukah Festival of Light, and the Christian Christmas. Each festival has it's own stories and origins, but they all are gathered 'round the common theme of growing light and warmth against the darkness and winter's cold. They all stem from the ancient celebration of the Winter Solstice.

Here is a You Tube video of Witches Circle bringing you Silent Night, Solstice Night.

Hannukah--our Festival of Light, and Feast of Dedication begins tonight at sunset. For eight days, we will celebrate the growing light against the darkeness, a minor festival in the Jewish Calendar, but one that reminds us to be strong in who we are in the face of those who wish us to become a different people.

Here is the Ragamuffin Household's wish for Joyful Holy Days and a Prosperous New Year to you and yours. The Christian prayer for "Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men" is one to which Ragamuffin House joins in saying AMEN!

Storm Warning Solstice

Tonight at 23:08 MST (06:08 UT), the earth will be at the point of the Winter Solstice for the northern hemisphere. So today is the Solstice for us, although for those of you east of us, the Solstice is tomorrow very early in the morning.


I took the picture to the right last night, December 20, at approximately 4:41PM. I got out to get a shot of the sunset from a fixed point on my back porch last night, because we already had a winter storm warning posted for today. This is so close to the southernmost point of sunset on the western horizon, that I doubt there would be much difference even if I could take the picture tonight. And I can't, as we shall see.



Here is the best picture I could get of the sunrise this morning. Sunlight can be seen through the thinning in the clouds just above the tree at right center of the picture.
The weather front was already moving in.

Astronomically, the winter Solstice is the time at which the hemisphere experiencing winter is at maximum tilt away from the sun, so that the sun sets directly overhead 23 degrees 27 minutes away from the equator. In our case, winter in the northern hemisphere, the sun sets directly overhead tonight on the Tropic of Capricorn, 23 degrees 27 minutes south of the equator.


I took this picture this morning as we returned from our walk with the dogs. The lowering clouds just over the roof of the house mark the back of the warm air mass bringing moisture from the Pacific. The edge of the clouds just over the mountains represent a cold front swinging down from the northwest. When these two air masses mix over the mountains later today, we will get snow. We are expecting a white solstice, just like last year.




In the modern calendar, the winter solstice is marked as the beginning of astronomical winter. Meteorological winter began on December 1. In the old calendar, the winter solstice is marked as a celebration of midwinter or Yule, because the beginning of winter comes at the fall cross-quarter day, near the beginning of November. The Romans celebrated this day as Dies Natalis Invicti Solis--the Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun. Christmas was set at this time in the 3rd century CE. There are many, many holidays in the northern hemisphere that in one way or another, celebrate the birth of light in the midst of darkness. Tonight is the longest night of the year, and today is the shortest day. After tonight, the daylight time will become longer each day. This will happen slowly and unnoticibly at first, but as we come past the spring cross-quarter day, we will notice the difference. This is why, now, in the long dark night of winter, we celebrate in many different ways, the birth of light.


There is no Jewish Holiday that specifically marks the Solstice, however, Hannukah, the Festival of Light, always comes at the dark of the moon that comes before of on the Solstice.

This picture was taken about 20 minutes after the snow began falling this afternoon. N. and I headed into town at about 10:30 this morning. At that time, the sun was shining in a partly cloudy sky and the temperature at the house was 39 degrees. We had several errands in town, to get dogfood, to stop at a big box store to get a new storage container for dogfood, then the bookstore for my favorite holiday blend coffee, and then to pick up some Challah for Shabbat tonight.




This picture was taken about 15 minutes after the picture above. In Albuquerque at noon, it was sunny and 50 degrees. But by the time we got to the bookstore, the Sandia front was swathed in clouds. N. and I made an executive decision to go to the natural food store next to the booksstore to get our Challah. It was very crowded in the food store, and it took us about a half-hour there. It was 2:25 by the time we were driving in rain on Tramway Road, heading for the canyon and home. It started to snow as we left Tijeras, heading uphill for Zuxax. At Sedillo hill, the flakes were smaller and falling faster. The temperature when we got home was 35 degrees. By the time we got the truck unloaded, it was blizzard conditions, and since the start of the storm (1.5 hours ago), we have gotten about 2.5 inches of snow. The wind is wild. We can expect from 5 to 7 inches of snow overnight, and more tomorrow morning. The temperature here is now about 28 degrees and falling.


We are getting ready to light the candles for Shabbat, and I will light an extra one in honor of the longest night of the year. We are snowbound this Solstice, which seems right for Midwinter's Night.

Happy Solstice! Happy New Year!
May the growing light be reflected in your homes!

Happy Yule! May the coming holidays be ones of warmth and joy for all.

6th Light: White Solstice

Good morning!


To the right is the view I saw when I looked out the window this morning. Last night it was still cloudy and snowing when we went to bed.
This morning the Sandias glowed pink in the pre-dawn light.


We had over a foot of snow at our house over the last 24 hours. We are happy for the snow but we are also happy for th sun that now shines on it, giving the world that blue-and-white look of winter.


According to the new calendar, today is the beginning of winter. We think of the snow as a celebration of mid-winter, according to the old calendar, which designates the winter solstice as Mid-Winter's Day.

To the right is a picture of our house on Mid-Winter's Dawn. The Shadow of clouds on the Sandias can be seen in the background. The drifts at the porch and the south wing are 3-4 feet high, covering the bottoms of the windows!
Today will be the shortest daylight of the year for us. Tonight the sun will set at the same point in the southwest it did last night--just south of Cedro Peak. Then it will be rising just a little to the north each day--bringing an increase in the amount of daylight each day. Once again, the
great dance of the earth around the sun begins!



To the left of the house is the Ponderosa Pine behind which the sun will set tonight! It is the same place the sun set last night--although we only saw a faint glow through the clouds. When the sun appears to set in the same place, it appears to stand still--which is the origin of the word "solstice" which comes from Latin: sun-stand-still. The Romans celebrated this day as the Feast of the Unconquerable Sun, which began a week of celebration called Saturnalia. The Celts celebrated this time as Yule-again rejoicing that our star appeared to stop retreating to the south. Christians celebrate the birth of their messiah at this same time--symbolically celebrating the return of light to the north.



Hannukah is not connected to the solar year. The Jewish calendar is an adjusted lunar calendar. But Hannukah starts after the last quarter moon and ends on the second day of the new moon that comes near the winter solstice. So Hannukah comes during the dark of the moon and the dark of the sun. Increasing light at this time is also symbolic of bringing light into a dark world. At the end of Hannukah, the lunar light is just beginning to increase. This year, Hannukah will end the day after the solstice--as the light of the sun is also just barely increasing. This year, especially, we are reminded of the importance of increasing light to the world as the light increases in the Menorah, as the moon begins to wax with the new month, and as the daylight increases with the passing of the winter solstice.

At dawn after the snowstorm, the dawn of the last day of decreasing light, we welcome the light of the sun!

Welcome, Star of Life, Center of the Year!

Blessed is the Eternal, Sovreign of the Universe, who fashions light and creates darkness, who makes wholeness and creates all things. With compassion, the Eternal gives light to the earth and all who dwell on it; with goodness, G-d renews the work of creation each day... Let all bless you, Eternal, for the greatness of your handiwork and for the great lights you have made: let them tell your glory throughout space and time.





May we all know joy in the increasing light and wake from our winter's rest with strength renewed.


As our roads take us to new heights, may we take with us the resolve to increase the light each day!

Happy Holidays!