Winter Solstice-Canadian Rockies

It is very dark all around me. I am walking on a trail near my home, and the new fallen snow gives a muffled crunch under my Vibram soled boots.. The surrounding trees are cloaked in darkness, and seem wraithlike as they reach up into the snowy sky. The snow is falling lightly, and my headlamp pierces the darkness in different directions as my head bobs with my walk. I feel like I have a front row seat in Star Wars, sitting in the Millenium Falcon as it rockets thru space. (The snowflakes are captured in the light of my headlamp as I walk along)
It is 5:45 pm, December 20th, 2018.

Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice, and the shortest day of the year for daylight. Actually, there is 8 hours and 42 minutes less daylight than the Summer Solstice on June 21. Though it is very dark right now, we will now get 2.87 minutes more daylight each day!!!

You may not know this, but the Winter Solstice is linked to Stone Henge.

No one knows for sure why Stonehenge was built some 5,000 years ago. But one strong possibility is that it was used to mark solstices and equinoxes. That’s because the structure is directly aligned toward the sunset during the winter solstice. (The sun also rises directly over the Heel Stone during the summer solstice.)

Why was the winter solstice a big deal? Teresa Wilson of the American Astronomical Society explains: “While the summer solstice draws a larger crowd, the winter solstice may have been more important to the ancient builders. At this time, cattle were slaughtered so the animals did not need to be fed through the winter, and wine and beer made previously had finally fermented.”

Sounds like we are all having a barbecue in the next few days and enjoying some red wine.

Enjoy the journey. (And the daylight)

Robert Krysak