The Holiday Season: Today

Today many of us yearn to make the holiday season
more meaningful, more loving, perhaps more spiritual.

Candlegrove traces the winter holiday season daily from Thanksgiving through Epiphany.

`December 21, 2007`

Tonight brings the Winter Solstice to North America. The actual moment of the Sun's lowest latitude in the sky is 10:08 pm, PST. Welcome Yule!

Solstice means "standing still sun." Daylight won't begin to lengthen significantly for a few days. For example, here in San Francisco, at winter solstice we have 9 hours, 33 minutes of daylight. Our day will remain that length in minutes until Christmas, before gaining a minute more.

In fact, even though winter solstice brings the shortest daylight of the year, it doesn't feel like it to many people. That's because more people experience sunsets than sunrises. At mid-northern latitudes, the earliest sunsets occur during the first week of December. Sunset actually occurs a little bit later each day as we move closer to the winter solstice. The days really are getting shorter, but it's because the sun is rising later each morning. That's why the days at the beginning of December usually feel the shortest. This tidbit from Jack Horkheimer of the PBS program, Stargazer.

`Tips for the day`

Whenever and however you celebrate, may your winter solstice be filled with good cheer, reflection, hope for the rebirth of the light, and peace.

Listen to a podcast of my radio interview with Sandi Billings, Yin Radio from Moscow, Idaho

Still wondering what simple things you can do to honor the solstice? Here are tips from our archive:

A solstice candle, lit at sundown and allowed to burn in a safe place through the night, is a simple tradition deeply connected to ancient ways.

Lighting a Yule log.
Incorporating sun-hued oranges.

Winter Solstice 2007: Dec 22, 6:08 am Universal Time

Be sure to adjust for your time zone:
EST: Dec 22, 1:08 am
CST: Dec 22, 12:08 am
MST: Dec 21, 11:08 pm
PST: Dec 21, 10:08 pm

If your holiday celebration depends on knowing sunrise and/or sunset times for winter solstice or any other day in your location, find it online at the U.S. Naval Observatory. The database covers 22,000 US locations. For world locations, you'll need your latitude and longitude.

This site also lists solstices and equinoxes through 2020. You'll need to convert to your time zone from Universal Time.

TreeGreetings.com

A step up from your typical e-card. Send an e-greeting (some can be customized for winter solstice), and for a small fee, a tree will be planted in your recipient's name.
TreeGreetings.com

Ready for online holiday music?

Browse Live 365's listing of over a hundred holiday/seasonal stations.

Considering a winter solstice ritual?

Scroll down this page from Beliefnet for a couple articles that can give you ideas about the essential elements of a winter solstice ritual
Or here's a more formal ritual for a group, Tacoma's Welcome Yule Ceremony.
Excellent tips from School of the Seasons
Don Orne invites prayer and meditation on winter solstice as World Peace Day

Read our interviews with:

Waverly Fitzgerald, of School of the Seasons

Sheryl Karas, author of The Solstice Evergreen

Inner Advent & Inner Christmas

From counselor and writer Lynn Jericho, ideas for Inner Christmas — a meaningful and enriching process of self-reflection from December 25 to January 6. Sign up for daily emails at her site.

This season's archive

A note about the commerce links on this site: Candlegrove is essentially non-commercial. In some cases, links from this site yield a small affiliate fee. Half of all funds generated by such links help sustain this site. The other half is donated to environmental organizations.

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