The Solstice is Here.

Tomorrow is the 21st of December, the shortest day of the year. From tomorrow, the daylight hours get longer. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

For me, a non-Christian, who does not celebrate Christmas, the Winter Solstice is the Big Day at this time of year. I get depressed by the short cold days and being able to watch the progression towards the Spring lifts my spirits.

David and I always mark this day with a small celebration. Last year we visited an ancient pagan site, the stone-circle at Little Rolright. This year, the weather is dour, so we won’t be repeating the trip, but we will do something a little special to observe the day.

The ancient astronomical pagan sites, such as Stonehenge and Rolright were built for this day. The common understanding is that these monuments were built to observe the Summer Solstice, but this makes little sense to me.

The people who built these places were members of the earliest organised agricultural society. To them the re-growth of the sun, the promise of spring and all that that brings in terms of spring planting and the birth of livestock, would have been vitally important. At the most dangerous and hardest time of year, the importance of the re-birth of the dying Sun must have been utterly immense.

It makes perfect sense that the Druids would want to demonstrate their power at the time of greatest fear, not at the time of greatest comfort and plenty.

The big day in the ancient British pre-Christian calendar must be tomorrow.

Celebrate!