I resisted my own contribution to this thread but can hold off no longer. Some observations on the winter solstice:
1) As an inhabitant of the frozen Land Where the Nights are Long, I also harbour a profound reverence for the point at which the sun begins to return to our cold, cold land. In celebration, I have my hair cut on the solstice (by my wife, taking time off from translating letters on TIPS). In general, I have my haircut each time and only when the sun crosses a solstice or equinox, thus demonstrating that my hair growth is synchronized with the rhythm of the cosmos. It also demonstrates that this is too long a period to go between haircuts. And it may be that it is my haircuts which cause the sun to return. 2) I think the main reason for appreciation of the solstice is that people take it as indicating the point at which the day begins to last just a little bit longer than the day before. But in fact, this point is reached about a week before the solstice. At the latitude where I live, between December 4 and December 15th of this year the sun set at 4:11 p.m. But on December 16, it set at 4:12 p.m. By the solstice yesterday, around here we already had gained a full three minutes of daylight at the end of the day. And I enjoyed every minute of it. 3) I have to register my protest against the designation of December 21 as "the first official day of winter", as we are repetitively told by the media. That may be true when defined in astronomical terms, but in normal and historical usage, "winter" refers to the three coldest months of the year which, in the Northern hemisphere, are December, January, and February. In fact, December 22 (sometimes December 25) has historically been called "midwinter's day" (and June 21 (or 24) is "midsummer's day"). How can winter have just begun if it's already midwinter? Stephen ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: [email protected] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Subscribe to discussion list (TIPS) for the teaching of psychology at http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/tips/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
