Shortest Day, Longest Night, Happy Winter Solstice to Yule, Festive Foliage & Having a Giraffe

Taken from Lynne’s weekly column ‘Green Scene’ for the Western Mail
16^th December 2023

Shortest Day, Longest Night

Hooray – only 9 days to go – not to Christmas but to the shortest day, or winter solstice.

Whereas we associate the 21^st December with the shortest day, technically this year it is on Friday 22^nd – at 3.27 am.  We also tend to think of the winter solstice as a full day, but the solstice actually lasts only a moment. Specifically, it’s the exact moment when a hemisphere is tilted as far away from the Sun as possible although, this 24 hour period has the fewest daylight hours of the year, hence being referred to as the shortest day – and also the longest night – of the year.

The winter solstice marks the official beginning of astronomical winter, as opposed to meteorological winter, which starts on the 1^st December – although I think winter may have started in August this year.

If we are lucky enough to have some sun (and apricity) on the day of the solstice, if you stand outside at midday and look at your shadow, it’s the longest shadow that you’ll cast all year. Do this again on the day of the summer solstice, and you’ll see virtually no shadow at all.

With the winter sun setting before 4 pm, the 22^nd of December will only have 7 hours and 50 minutes of daylight – 9 hours less than the summer solstice in June.

The winter solstice has been a significant time of year in many cultures, marked by festivals and rituals celebrating the symbolic death and rebirth of the sun as the days begin to lengthen. The spiritual meaning of the winter solstice Is all about beginning a new chapter in your life, which is reflected in a new cycle of birth, growth and death in nature.

Therefore, it is possibly a better time for new resolutions rather than the new year.

Happy Winter Solstice to Yule

Prior to Yule logs being full of sugar and calories, they used to be real logs and were carried into the house with pomp and ceremony at the winter solstice, decorated with ribbons and boughs of pine, juniper, or cedar. Once lit, this would give off a sweet smelling smoke which would bless the house with prosperity and protect from evil.  It was considered an honour to light the log but doing so with dirty hands risked serious bad luck. The Yule log ashes were sacred, and ploughed into fields to promote good harvests.

As well as the well-known celebrations at Stonehenge, the winter solstice is celebrated at other sites around the world, constructed purely to mark the winter solstice.  At Newgrange in Ireland a beam of light travels through a ‘roof-box’ and along a passageway to illuminate a chamber – only happening on the winter solstice. A similar sight can be seen at Maeshowe, Scotland.

At the Karnak Temple Complex in Egypt the complex of ruins is uniquely illuminated during the winter solstice as the rising winter sun shines through two pillars at the temple’s eastern entrance, lighting up the shrine to the Sun God.

During the winter solstice at Chichén Itzá in Mexico, the sun rises upward along the edge of the pyramid in a striking fashion. During the day, the southern and western sides of the temple are brightly illuminated, whilst the northern and eastern sides are left in darkness. During the spring equinox, light and shadow create a pattern on the temple’s steps resembling a snake ascending to the top.

Some of The Carnac Stones, near the south coast of Brittany in France align with the sunset of both the winter and the summer solstices. And at Machu Picchu in Peru, one of its buildings is known as the Temple of the Sun and during the morning of the winter solstice, the first rays of light shine through one of two windows in the temple, illuminating the ceremonial stone inside. The second window is positioned so the first rays of light during the summer solstice shine down on the ceremonial stone.

It is obvious that I won’t be the only one celebrating the winter solstice, or the shortest day.

Festive Foliage

I love this time of year out in the gardens – as long as it’s dry.  In the all-consuming run up to Christmas, client’s expectations – like the temperatures – are usually a little lower and it gives me a chance to get creative with outdoor ‘Christmas decorations’ using all things ‘au naturel’. Troughs and other containers look fab’luss when filled with cut foliage (as in the photo).  All I do is cut pieces of evergreen foliage, rose hips, teasel heads and anything else I think will ‘be effective’ and push them into the compost.  They will last for three or four weeks over Christmas providing lovely festive displays for free!

This trough also has some solar lights in it which twinkle away cheerfully at night and I forgot to take a photo of the wonderful hanging baskets that I made using the same technique.  As the hanging baskets are either side of a front door, I incorporated stems of rosemary and sage for added ‘scent appeal’. They are really lovely – even if I do say so myself!

Having a Giraffe

And another job at this time of year is to ‘put the Christmas hat on my giraffe’.  Although I’ve had my long-necked friend for over 10 years, in 2017 giraffes bizarrely become associated with Christmas for many after April the giraffe at Animal Adventure Park in New York.  A live cam watched every little antic by April the giraffe, her handsome beau Oliver, and the birth of their adorable calf Tajiri.  It was live-streamed on YouTube, and watched by millions around the world.  The giraffe goings-on resulted in raised awareness of giraffe conservation as an army of addicts logged in each day to find out what was happening in the giraffe barn.

The obsession resulted in people embracing giraffes at Christmas, with merchandise depicting Santa’s sledge being pulled by a giraffe instead of a reindeer and giraffes featuring in the Nativity Scenes. Even cute little giraffe decorations for the Christmas tree are now popular.

And no, I’m not ‘having a giraffe!’ (laugh) – it’s true!