Happy first day of winter -- the shortest day and the longest night of the year. The very thought makes me want to stay home and knit (but instead, I'm starting my new internship today - wish me luck!)
It looks like officially Winter solstice for 2004 will occured at 4:42 am PST on December 21. There's some interesting solstice history here and a great A to Z list of Solstice celebrations in different cultures.
But its a good turning point as well, as this site explains, "The Winter Solstice is unique among days of the year — the time of the longest night and the shortest day. The dark triumphs but only briefly. For the Solstice is also a turning point. From now on (until the Summer Solstice, at any rate), the nights grow shorter and the days grow longer, the dark wanes and the Sun waxes in power."
Posted by Emily at December 21, 2004 07:32 AM