Winter Solstice, The Annual Journey
We've arrived yet again at the darkest day of the year, about to embark on a return trip toward the light. It's been a 500 million mile voyage around the sun in the last 12 months.
In the day to day we may lose track of the bigger picture, the elements that define the very ground we stand on. We tend to think more about everyday life, the mundane, the news. Maybe health, fitness, loved ones. We may read a book, go for a walk, take a drive, or go to a Sigur Ros concert.
Whatever the case, when the Winter Solstice arrives, it marks an annual reminder that we are on a high speed journey with no end in sight, and are about to make a return toward the light.
Some find it discomforting to realize that our ship is moving at 67,000 miles per hour around the sun, even while we sleep, and that we’ve traveled more than 500 million miles since the last Winter Solstice, one year ago. That’s almost 44 trillion miles in my lifetime. I don’t even know how to think about that.
It makes those 400 mile road trips down the California-Oregon coast pale in comparison. Or the text message seem like a spec in the universe.
We don’t even have to leave home to embark on this trip.
We celebrate the arrival of darkness in the winter. Every night there is a wood fire in our fireplace. The creeping darkness erodes minutes of light everyday. The rain storms darken it even more. It adds up. We are down to about 10 hours of light on the Winter Solstice tonight, 14 hours of darkness. My wife is from a place that has only eight hours of light at Winter Solstice. Farther north, it gets more extreme.
I don’t know anybody who lies awake and worries about the fact that the earth’s axis has been slowly tilting for the last six months and is now more than 23 degrees off center. If that was a boat I would be worried. I think the fact that it happens every year makes us think that a 23 degree roll is normal. It always corrects itself.
Maryhill Stonehenge
We were recently out at the Maryhill Stonehenge on the Columbia River, touring the concrete artifact built to the identical specifications of England’s original Stonehenge a century ago. The alter stone at Maryhill Stonehenge is placed to align with sunrise at the Summer Solstice. The concrete pavilion was built by Samual Hill as a memorial of remembrance to soldiers from Klickitat County, Washington who died in World War One. It was the first Great War memorial in the nation.
For me, the Winter Solstice is a time to reflect on the very vast and powerful nature of the greater world upon which we travel and hopefully, to see beyond the conflicts that cloud the times.
jhg - 2025