The Winter Solstice: December 22

Categories: Outdoors & Nature

The beauty of light becomes more pronounced when contrasted with darkness.  The December 22 Winter Solstice brings the longest night of the year and the perfect opportunity to create light with candles.   For a unique solstice experience you might want to "unleash your inner druid" and have a solstice day - without electricity.  At sunset, bring out the candlelight.  "Candlenight" is a winter solstice celebration that started in Japan in 2003. Books such as Illuminations by Wally Arnold will inspire you to decorate with candlelight, while Light A Candle by Sylvia Browne will inspire some candlelight rituals. Candlegrove and School of the Seasons are among the web sites that are devoted to seasonal celebrations around the world.

A few of the items that are available at The Library to enhance your own solstice celebration:

Non-fiction: The Winter Solstice: The Sacred Traditions of Christmas by John Matthews features Celtic holiday traditions

Children's: The Shortest Day: Celebrating the Winter Solstice by Wendy Pfeffer

Music: Windham Hill Records was the primary source for New Age music in the 1980's, and the Library holds copies of all of their A Winter's Solstice collections: from 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1995, and 1997.

Fiction: Winter Solstice by Rosamund Pilcher, available in regular print and in large print, is a cozy character study involving five people of diverse backgrounds who find themselves spending the solstice together in a big old house in Scotland.

Enjoy the celebrations of the day, light a candle, and look forward to the warmth of the Summer Solstice.