Today is December 21, the Winter Solstice and shortest day of the year for many parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Historically, many cultures have marked the Winter Solstice for centuries, if not millennia. Traditions generally center around life, death, and rebirth. That makes sense as the day is an inflection point when the sun's time in the sky is at an ebb. Following this the days get longer again.
I don't attach spiritual significance to this scientific fact but I'm still going to say Yay! I'm happy to be slowly moving away from these short, cold days where it's dark when my workday alarm rings in the morning and dark again before my workday ends. Granted, at 37.4° N latitude I don't have the worst of it. My shortest day is still 9.5 hours. Helsinki, Finland, just north of 60°, has anemic days with just under 6 hours of daylight at this time of year.
BTW a good explainer on how the tilt of the earth's axis affects the length of days, and things like that, is science writer Deborah Byrd's article EarthSky.org.
I don't attach spiritual significance to this scientific fact but I'm still going to say Yay! I'm happy to be slowly moving away from these short, cold days where it's dark when my workday alarm rings in the morning and dark again before my workday ends. Granted, at 37.4° N latitude I don't have the worst of it. My shortest day is still 9.5 hours. Helsinki, Finland, just north of 60°, has anemic days with just under 6 hours of daylight at this time of year.
BTW a good explainer on how the tilt of the earth's axis affects the length of days, and things like that, is science writer Deborah Byrd's article EarthSky.org.