WINTER SOLSTICE SUN

Winter Solstice Sun -(Circles of Winter series) - © Sue O'Kieffe 2008
source image - red clover gone to seed


Every day I learn something new. Today I learned solstice means standing still sun. This was probably elementary science when I was a youngster, but science never held much interest for me when I was a lass.

On the night of winter solstice, as seen from a northern sky, the three stars in Orion's Belt align with the brightest star in the eastern sky Sirius to show where the Sun will rise in the morning after winter solstice. Until this time, the Sun has exhibited since summer solstice a decreasing arc across the Southern sky. On winter solstice, the Sun ceases to decline in the sky and the length of daylight reaches its minimum for three days, during which the sun does not move on the horizon. After such a time, the Sun begins its ascent into the northern sky and days grow longer. Thus the interpretation by many cultures of a sun reborn and a return to light. This return to light is again celebrated at the vernal equinox, when the length of day equals that of night. (from wikipedia)

I guess if I am going to celebrate Solstice as a holy day, it's good to understand some of the factual stuff too.

I have been away from the blogosphere for a week. Last Sunday I came home to a computer that wouldn't start up. A new power supply and larger hard drive solved that problem. While my computer guy was under the hood, I asked him to add another gig of RAM, so I practically have a new machine. It's so interesting how one problem solved creates a host of others. After bringing the pc home on Tuesday, it crashed a couple of times, so back to my friendly pc doc it went. Wouldn't ya know though, after three days he couldn't consistently reduplicate the error. So back home she is for some test driving with fingers crossed. So far so good. Only one error since Friday night. Perhaps holiday magic has saved the day!