The Turning of the Year

Padraig Breathnach wrote:

Folks, we're on the way towards summer. Things are on the up, and I
raise my glass to all of you and wish you the greetings of the season.

A Happy Solstice to you, too, Padraig!

For those of us in the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice has
just passed (antipodeans of superior intelligence can work out the
corresponding event in their lives).

The privileged few, some of whom waited years for their turn, who were
in the chamber of Newgrange to witness midwinter sunrise were
disappointed, as the day was heavily overcast. Sure, the sun rose:
they just didn't see it.

It's cold and a bit miserable outside, so we plan to stock up on food
and drink, feast and make merry, reinforce family and friendship ties,
and generally do what we can to get us through the nadir of the yearly
cycle. Some people invest this time with a religious significance, and
that's okay by me. Any excuse for a party will do.

Tomorrow the sun will rise a little earlier, and set a little later --
that is, if long-established precedent is followed. And such a pattern
will be followed for six months, until day is far longer than night,
and the weather is such that I will be able to venture out in light
slacks and shirtsleeves (antipodeans may see things differently).

Folks, we're on the way towards summer. Things are on the up, and I
raise my glass to all of you and wish you the greetings of the season.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED

In article , Padraig
Breathnach wrote:


Folks, we're on the way towards summer. Things are on the up, and I
raise my glass to all of you and wish you the greetings of the season.

To you as well!

Summer ? Its 27 here today... but when I get off the plane in the
morning it will be 6.

jay
Wed Dec 21, 2005

"Padraig Breathnach" wrote in message
...

geek alert

Tomorrow the sun will rise a little earlier,

Actually to be pedantic, it won't. The sun will carry on rising later each day
for about another week or so.

and set a little later --

Which it has been doing for about a week or so already...

This effect comes about due to the non-circular orbit of the earth, I think.
Yesterday was indeed the shortest day, but the earliest sunset occures around
the middle of December and the latest sunrise occurs about new year.

/geek alert

Folks, we're on the way towards summer. Things are on the up, and I
raise my glass to all of you and wish you the greetings of the season.

And to you.

--
Andy

Padraig Breathnach wrote:

For those of us in the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice has
just passed (antipodeans of superior intelligence can work out the
corresponding event in their lives).

The privileged few, some of whom waited years for their turn, who were
in the chamber of Newgrange to witness midwinter sunrise were
disappointed, as the day was heavily overcast. Sure, the sun rose:
they just didn't see it.

It's cold and a bit miserable outside, so we plan to stock up on food
and drink, feast and make merry, reinforce family and friendship ties,
and generally do what we can to get us through the nadir of the yearly
cycle.

Unlike last year, we're not stocking up on anything, as Christmas day
we'll be on a flight to Boston, though we'll no doubt get well and truly
stuffed on (mostly latin american) foody delights while there. We
haven't put up any decorations at home this year either, other than the
greeting cards and an advent calander which is an excuse to have a
little ('real') chocolate every morning at breakfast! I think we'll
splurge on Saturday morning and have some panettone and hot chocolate,
but that's about it. Other than that, it's a rush of work for me until
Christmas eve and I haven't even packed yet.

[]
Folks, we're on the way towards summer. Things are on the up,

I rather like this time of year. Still, one of my favourite literary
works is Donne's "A Nocturnal Upon St. Lucy's Day." (That was yesterday,
by the way.) I 'warmly' recommend it!

http://www.darsie.net/library/donne.html#lucy

and I
raise my glass to all of you and wish you the greetings of the season.

I'll raise one later, cheers! And best wishes to you!

--
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk
http://homepage.mac.com/davidhornecomposer http://soundjunction.org

Following up to Padraig Breathnach

Any excuse for a party will do.

and why not one in summer too?

Folks, we're on the way towards summer. Things are on the up, and I
raise my glass to all of you and wish you the greetings of the season.

Superb Solstice to you!
--
Mike Reid
"Christmas is the Disneyfication of Christianity" Don Cupitt (theologian)
"Christmas is the Christianisation of the solstice?" M.Reid(self appointed expert)
"http://www.fellwalk.co.uk/happyxmas.htm"

(David Horne, _the_ chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and prestwich tesco 24h offy) writes:

I rather like this time of year. Still, one of my favourite literary
works is Donne's "A Nocturnal Upon St. Lucy's Day." (That was
yesterday, by the way.) I 'warmly' recommend it!

You warmly recommend yesterday? I missed it, I'm afraid.

But St. Lucy's Day is actually the 13 December, I'm afraid. (See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feast_day and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Lucy, for example.) I happen to
know this because all good Zwedishes celebrate the nice Sankta Lucia
(and this is also when the Nobel prize ceremony happens).

But you're probably wondering why the saint of the shortest day is
fêted on the 13th. It is a calendar reform thing:

"""
Before the calendar reform, her original feast day (the day of her
martyrdom) happened to fall on the shortest day of the year. The
winter solstice was December 13 by the Julian calendar rather than
December 21, which it became with the change to the Gregorian calendar
in the 1300s, linking it with the far older Yule and Winter festivals
of pre-Christian times. Lucy's lore survived the Reformation and
calendar reform, which brought the solstice to December 23 [sic!].
"""
http://www.serve.com/shea/germusa/lucia.htm

Des

Des Small wrote:

(David Horne, _the_ chancellor of the
duchy of besses o' th' barn and prestwich tesco 24h offy) writes:

I rather like this time of year. Still, one of my favourite literary
works is Donne's "A Nocturnal Upon St. Lucy's Day." (That was
yesterday, by the way.) I 'warmly' recommend it!

You warmly recommend yesterday?

I believe in it!

I missed it, I'm afraid.

But St. Lucy's Day is actually the 13 December, I'm afraid. (See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feast_day and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Lucy, for example.) I happen to
know this because all good Zwedishes celebrate the nice Sankta Lucia
(and this is also when the Nobel prize ceremony happens).

But you're probably wondering why the saint of the shortest day is
fêted on the 13th. It is a calendar reform thing:

Now, that's something else I didn't know and do know now- thanks. (I'd
always associated St. Lucy with the shortest day of the year, so just
assumed December 21.) Yes, the poem plays so much on the shortest day
(and the irony of the name) that I would have been a bit suprised if the
symbolism was all out of whack. December 12 is St. David Horne's day
BTW!

--
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk
http://homepage.mac.com/davidhornecomposer http://soundjunction.org

Padraig Breathnach wrote:
For those of us in the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice has
just passed . . .

Tomorrow the sun will rise a little earlier

It had died. It is reborn! Hallelujah!
__________________________________________________ _________________
Thank God I'm an Atheist.
http://geocities.com/dancefest/ - http://geocities.com/iconoc/
ICQ: http://wwp.mirabilis.com/19098103 --- IClast at SFbay Net

Following up to (David Horne, _the_
chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and prestwich tesco 24h offy)
:

December 12 is St. David Horne's day
BTW!

:-)
St. Ingomar. Never heard of him/her/it.

--
Tim C.