Poems & Prose for the Winter Solstice!

Dear Members, Alumni, and Friends of the JSMT:

The Winter Solstice arrives on Sunday, December 21^st at 5:03 PM (CST) – heralding the shortest day and the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s time for celebrations, family feasts, evergreens and lights, storytelling, and poetry! Here are a few selections to make your holiday season merry and bright.

“The Night Before Finals”

By Yours Truly (2005)

‘Twas the night before finals, and all through the dorm,

Not a student was sleeping, for that was the norm.

When on the South Quad there arose such a clatter,

Students rose from their books to see what was the matter.

And there on the face of the new-fallen snow

A message was written in letters aglow.

A scribe unbeknownst on the snowfield did write:

“A kewl Yule to you all, and to all a good night!”

“The North Wind Doth Blow”

(Traditional English Rhyme – 16^th Century)

The north wind doth blow, and we shall have snow.

And what will poor robin do then, poor thing?

He’ll sit in a barn, and keep himself warm,

And hide his head under his wing, poor thing.

The north wind doth blow, and we shall have snow.

And what will the dormouse do then, poor thing?

Rolled up like a ball, in his nest snug and small,

He’ll sleep till warm weather comes in, poor thing.

The north wind doth blow, and we shall have snow.

And what will the children do then, poor things?

When lessons are done, they must skip, hop, and run,

Until they have made themselves warm, poor things.

“The Oxen”

By Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)

Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.

“Now they are all on their knees,"

An elder said as we sat in a flock

By the embers in hearthside ease.

We pictured the meek mild creatures where

They dwelt in their strawy pen,

Nor did it occur to one of us there

To doubt they were kneeling then.

So fair a fancy few would weave

In these years! Yet, I feel,

If someone said on Christmas Eve,

“Come; see the oxen kneel,

“In the lonely barton by yonder coomb

Our childhood used to know,"

I should go with him in the gloom,

Hoping it might be so.


[Here's a one-page article, which I wrote six years ago, about the Winter Solstice and how and why people celebrate it – in many and various ways – throughout the Northern Hemisphere. The celebrations may appear to be different on the surface, but if we look more closely, we can see that they all have much more in common than might at first appear. -- RHC]

SEASONAL REFLECTIONS by RHC

First Published in Ultreia III:3-4 (Autumn/Holiday 2008)

 

       As 2008 draws to a close, people in the Northern Hemisphere of our planet are preparing to celebrate a wide variety of Midwinter holidays. Although there are vast differences in these celebrations, which vary by culture, nation, and religion, their overarching themes are quite similar, and most of them are derived from a common astronomical source. Each year as the Midwinter Solstice (December 21-22) approaches, the days grow shorter and colder, and the Sun’s circular journey across the daytime sky is far lower than it was at Midsummer in June. To the skywatchers of the ancient world, it appeared as if the Sun – the source of growth, light, and warmth – was dying. Then, shortly after the longest night of the year, something amazing happened! The Sun began to rejuvenate and started to climb higher in the sky each day. Eventually, more light and warmth returned to the world, and springtime would invariably arrive several weeks later.

       This annual event – the metaphorical “death and rejuvenation” of the Sun at the Midwinter Solstice – was definitely something worth celebrating. Human life could go on because the Sun came back from oblivion! Light overcame darkness; warmth banished the cold; hope replaced despair; and life defeated death. Decorating with candles and evergreens became a widespread custom in many nations as people celebrated the return of the Sun’s light and the promise of Nature’s renewal that it brought to the wintry world. These are the themes that the major Midwinter holidays of the Northern Hemisphere share in common.

       In both Asian and European mythologies, the annual rejuvenation of the Sun was expressed in many symbolic ways. One of the most famous legends related to the Midwinter Solstice is the tale of the phoenix bird. According to the most widespread tradition, there was only one phoenix alive in the world at any given time. The bird was adorned with beautiful crimson, golden, and violet plumage, and it built its next of spices in the Arabian Desert. Every 500 years, the elderly phoenix would burst into flames and die – but from its ashes would arise a new, young phoenix to live for another five centuries. The newborn phoenix, as soon as it could fly, would carry the bones and ashes of its former self to the temple of the Sun in Heliopolis, Egypt, where the priests would note in their chronicles that a new “phoenix cycle” had begun. From an astronomical perspective, the death, immolation, and rebirth of the phoenix could have symbolized the annual cycle of the seasons, in which the Sun “dies” of old age at the Midwinter Solstice, only to rejuvenate and ascend into the heavens once again with the approach of springtime.

ABOVE: This is an illustration of the legendary phoenix bird from the 12th-century Aberdeen Bestiary. (Image Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

       As the world awaits the beginning of 2009, we would do well to remember these practical yet profound insights from the skywatchers and mythmakers of antiquity. Empires rise and fall; economies wax and wane; and scientific knowledge continues to increase exponentially. Yet the seasons still come and go on time each year; summer and winter, seedtime and harvest return in their predictable order. The Universe is not a haphazard place, but it is governed by natural laws that allow human life to continue from one generation to the next.

       For the Editor, the core message of all the Midwinter holidays is best summed up in this poem by one of his favorite authors, George MacDonald (1824-1905):

“A Song of Suns and Seasons”

By George MacDonald (1824-1905)

Excerpted from At the Back of the North Wind [1871], Chapter 37

The Sun is gone down, and the Moon’s in the sky;

But the Sun will come up, and the Moon be laid by.

The flower is asleep, but it is not dead;

When the morning shines, it will lift its head.

When winter comes, it will die – no, no;

It will only hide from the frost and the snow.

Sure is the summer, sure is the Sun;

The night and the winter are shadows that run.

Quotemail will return to its regular fortnightly schedule on Friday, January 9^th, 2015. In the meantime, may the calendar keep bringing Happy Holidays to you! :)

Rob