Tomorrow is the winter solstice. Perhaps as early as the Stone Age, we have held this time of year as special. Tomorrow will see the least amount of light and experience the longest night of the year.
From the beginning of civilization, midwinter festivals and celebrations often called for bright illumination, large fires, feasting, communion with close ones, and evening physical exertion by dancing and singing.
Our modern culture includes parties and gatherings that are still valued, giving us something to look forward to at the darkest time of the year.
The solstice is a lesson in the laws and balance of nature that too often we miss in our modern lives.
Folk singer Pete Seeger pulled this lesson from the prose of Ecclesiastes when he added music to the lines “to everything there is a season.And a time for every purpose, under heavenA time to build up, a time to break downA time to dance, a time to mournA time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together.”
I think of this when our professional lives reach a solstice – where the darkness seems to overwhelm the light. I don’t feast, dance and sing at such times – though it probably would be helpful.
Instead I look to the lesson of Ecclesiastes and the solstice. Life is a cycle. Light will follow darkness. Faith will triumph over fear.
While none of us know the details of what will happen next week, we can be certain that our days will grow longer in light.
From the beginning of civilization, midwinter festivals and celebrations often called for bright illumination, large fires, feasting, communion with close ones, and evening physical exertion by dancing and singing.
Our modern culture includes parties and gatherings that are still valued, giving us something to look forward to at the darkest time of the year.
The solstice is a lesson in the laws and balance of nature that too often we miss in our modern lives.
Folk singer Pete Seeger pulled this lesson from the prose of Ecclesiastes when he added music to the lines “to everything there is a season.And a time for every purpose, under heavenA time to build up, a time to break downA time to dance, a time to mournA time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together.”
I think of this when our professional lives reach a solstice – where the darkness seems to overwhelm the light. I don’t feast, dance and sing at such times – though it probably would be helpful.
Instead I look to the lesson of Ecclesiastes and the solstice. Life is a cycle. Light will follow darkness. Faith will triumph over fear.
While none of us know the details of what will happen next week, we can be certain that our days will grow longer in light.
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