Here we are again. Today is the shortest day of the year for those of us who live in the northern hemisphere. It isn’t just the fact that I am now retired that makes me more aware of this than was the case earlier in my life. When we retired we moved from Rapid City, South Dakota, near the 44th parallel up here on the 49th parallel. The difference is definitely noticeable to us.

Today the sunrise time in Rapid City will be 7:25 am. Here sunrise will appear at 8:02. Sunset isn’t that much different: 4:18 pm in Rapid City and 4:16 here. The two locations are in different positions relative to their time zones. Nonetheless today we have 38 fewer minutes of daylight than was the case when we lived in Rapid City.

But we have made it. While the days have been getting shorter and shorter for the past six months, now the days start to get longer. It isn’t very dramatic at first. Tomorrow is only a minute different from today, but soon we’ll begin to notice that the days are getting longer. The thing about being farther north is that the rate of change is more dramatic than it is closer to the equator. Not only are the days shorter up here at this time of the year, but they are longer after the spring equinox. For half of the year we have shorter days and for the other half they are longer.

Of course there are a lot of places where the days get shorter than here. North of the arctic circle the sun won’t rise at all today. And in the summer there will be days when it does not set. And there are plenty of places where the variation between the length of days is less dramatic. Near the equator the length of days and nights is nearly the same year round.

Celebration of the winter solstice is a phenomenon of northern places. There are some pretty impressive examples of prehistoric architecture in Central America, but you won’t find anything like Stonehenge there.

Another thing that is interesting about having moved farther north is that the variation in the location of the sunrise during the year is pretty dramatic. Since we live on the west coast, we are a bit more aware of sunset than sunrise. There are high mountains to the east of our home and so sunrises are less dramatic than was the case in some other places where we lived. But the sun sets over the ocean here and so we get a good view. This time of year the sun sets in the southwest. In the summer it sets in the northwest. It isn’t quite a 90 degree variation, but it is pretty close to it. That change in the position of the sun is part of what makes Stonehenge so remarkable. At just a bit past the 51st parallel, Stonehenge sits where the winter solstice sun rises at a 90 degree angle from the location of the summer solstice. The huge monument, which took hundreds of years to built is aligned so that the light from the sun falls between specific stones at each solstice.

Archaeologists and historians believe that ancient Britons held ceremonies at Stonehenge both at the winter and summer solstices. These days, people still gather in large numbers to view the solstice sunrises at Stonehenge. We had the privilege of visiting Stonehenge many years ago, but our visit was not on a solstice and we were there mid day rather than at sunrise. Although the huge rocks were impressive, I didn’t understand all of the nuances of their placement at the time. I’m not that big of a fan of crowds, so I probably wouldn’t make the trek to Stonehenge just to see the sun rise through the stones even if we lived much closer to the monument. These days, however, I can watch a video recording of the sunrise over the Internet.

Perhaps it is the result of being retired and having a bit more time to ponder things like sunrise and sunset, or perhaps it is part of the process of having moved a bit farther north, but I am much more aware of the emotional and spiritual impact of the length of days than I have previously been. There is a lot of information available about seasonal affective disorder on the emotions of people. I’ve known for a long time that the short days are more difficult for some folks than they are for me. I have many friends and acquaintances who travel south for part of the winter because they find the short days to be depressing. Others learn to live with and manage their depression while living through the darker days of winter. I seem to be less susceptible to seasonal depression than others, but I do find myself looking forward to longer days. I can understand why folks living in the north have developed traditions of special celebrations to mark the solstice. It also makes sense why the Christmas celebrations in the church became more common and popular as Christianity spread northward from the Middle East. Easter, which appears on the calendar in relationship to the spring equinox, was the most important holiday of the year in the early centuries of the church. Christmas celebrations began to appear about 300 years after the birth of Jesus and Christmas began to equal Easter in impact around 600 AD. In modern times Christmas has surpassed Easter as a holiday in many congregations.

However observed, I am pleased to have made it around the sun one more time and am looking forward to longer days in the months to come. I’m not a very good sleeper, so I probably won’t sleep less when the days get longer, but I think that I am more productive when the days are longer. I’ll find more time to work in the garden, tend the bees, and do other outside activities when the days are not only longer but also warmer.

Solstice celebrations at our home will be muted, but the day is duly noted and I’m looking forward to longer days to come.