At 2203 today, the old solar year ends and the new begins. Happy New Year! It's the winter solstice.
To me, this is the significant seasonal event. It is immutable. We cannot change it. Everything else derives from religious tradition, mechanical clocks, commercial opportunity and powerful people.
We might think that, as the days are getting longer again, the mornings will become lighter. Interestingly, this is not the case, as the BBC explains http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30549149. The averaging-out of day length to 24 hours exactly, suiting the mechanical time-keeping we all rely on, means that for two weeks before the winter solstice, evenings get lighter, and for two weeks after the solstice, mornings continue to get darker.
I started off by saying "Happy New Year". Notably, different traditions around the world have a different date for New Year. So ... Seasons Greetings! May 2015 bring peace, hope and security, and most of all, love.
Folk Show and Teatime Show presenter on Argyll FM. Enjoying music and technology. Supporting environmental and sustainability campaigns.
