Solstice party

There are many things I like about the 2nd half of the year.  Fall is my favorite season.  I enjoy the cooloff after a hot humid NYC summer.  The colors are frequently beautiful (even if it takes until November until we actually see them).  People even seem a little nicer (which is saying something), because everyone is finished enduring the weather and can actually enjoy it for a change.

But I don't like the creeping darkness.  I usually notice it around the end of October.  It's dimmer in the morning when I get up, and the sun sets rapidly.  I enjoy "garden inspection" in the late spring/summer, but by the time December comes around, I am getting up in the dark and going to work at more or less first light, and returning in complete darkness.  If (as I truly deserve) I sleep in on a weekend morning, I feel bad that I have missed a precious few hours of daylight in the process.  For years I did not do any close work in the late fall through early spring because the insides of my various apartments were so dark; eventually I wised up and got a swing arm lamp with two types of bulbs to fight off the darkness, and it helps, but it's not enough.

I get used to it, eventually, but I still don't like it, even as I enjoy other things about the end of the year.  And I know I am not alone.  I think the reason why Christmas lights are popular is that it's a primordial reaction by humans to rage against the dark.  After all, people have always lit fires at night to keep preditors at bay, and I also think to comfort themselves - a little substitute light until daylight returns.  People often refer to deities as being a source of light.  More than one religion incorporates halos into their artwork to differentiate divine figures.  Even if there was no religion, however, we would still be pursuing light.   

So here we are at the Solstice day, and the hysteria (who knew?) about the end of the Mayan calendar has had a nice side benefit - we are today supremely aware of it being the shortest day of the year.  There was a party at Stonehenge, like there is every year, only this time it was bigger, including people in reindeer antlers and Santa hats, and not just "druids," all to celebrate the return of the light.  I saw that video this morning on the news, along with the sarcastic commentary ("We're still here, guys"), but I also saw something else.  That no matter what anyone's professed religion, we all want the light to come back.  All of us - even plants and animals.  Every now and then, something transcends all of our differences.  Today is one of those days.