Happy Winter Solstice everyone! Unless you live in the southern hemisphere, in which case today is the Summer Solstice - lucky you. Today is the day - well at 11:19pm EST today - that the Sun "stands still". She travels to her most southerly position in the sky and stops. With that, the winter season (here in Canada anyways) officially begins. And the Sun turns to her six month trek northwards. For people in my part of the world the days will now be getting longer. When I return to work in just over two weeks my commute home will be at dusk again - cross my fingers. In spite of this cheery thought, it will be the case that the days will persist in being colder for at least two-and-a-half months. Oh well, #IAmCanadian. Of coarse, I am also a man of science.1 So I must remind everyone that the Sun does not actually progress across the sky. Well, it does but it's still an illusion. The Sun's apparent position is dictated by the axial tilt of our planet - 23.5 degrees. At this point in her orbit, one half of the world gets more direct sunlight than the other - Go New Zealand! The Sun's light and warmth gets spread out and weaker in other places - sorry Nunavut. But due to the miracle that is the conservation of angular momentum - Physics! - the planetary tilt retains its absolute orientation. The north end of our rotational axis always points close to the star Polaris no matter the time of year. And for as long as the Earth shall spin.5 So once the Earth has traveled to the far side of her near circular orbit around the Sun - more Physics! - the opposite half of the world will get more direct sunlight and the other side will get less. Some call it the 'balance' of nature, I call it 'revenge'. Did I mention that I have a dark half. I'm not all sweetness and light you know. On the Pagan 'Wheel of the Year' this day is the start of Yule. A celebration which involves feasting and gifting. And lots of fires to cook the food. Evergreen trees - because they live in spite of the cold - were/are decorated with symbols of what people hope to achieve or receive in the coming year. Items representing wealth, harvest, love, fertility, etc.6 And of coarse candles, lights to rebel against the long night. These days most of us have forsaken the candles (and the overt combustion hazard they represent) for a more technological means of conifer illumination. For me, I have two strings of Twinkly LED lights whose colours I can programme with a smartphone app - yeah 21stCentury! This year my tree is a shimmering sky blue with moving white lights around the central column.7 It kind of brings back the daytime, or makes one think of warm tropical beaches - which ever. But, on a whim, I can make my tree adopt any number of customizable effects including a moving rainbow which I deploy on New Years eve. The bestest toy in the world for someone who is Sagittarius. Cheers! References: 1To a certain class of "leadership" that makes me a "Thought Criminal".22My three Spirits of Christmas are George Orwell, Robert Holmes and Douglas Adams - not necessarily in that order.33BTW: Don't start thinking that I am a fan of Charles Dickens. I'm NOT!44You naughty little thought criminals. There will be coal a plenty in the Ministry of Love. 5Okay, that won't literally last forever but by that point humans will have all evolved into Talosians and live underground. 6My tree seems to be inhabited by little plush toys (and one humming bird) for some reason. 7My tree is artificial. But we've had it for over twenty (20) years now and it still holds up. Bought it at a (no longer existing) Sears in Hamilton, Ontario.