By Mary Jo
The solstices occur when the earth is tilted at its maximum angle from the sun. In the Northern hemisphere, the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year while the Southern Hemisphere is having its longest day of the year.
After the shortest day of the year, the days start getting longer. It’s the return of the sun, the return of light. Historically it’s been a time of bonfires and feasting since the return of the sun means life will go on. So it’s not surprising that in the deep midwinter, we love light.
In our homes, many of us decorate trees with lights. Communities create gardens of lights for people to walk through and parks of lights for people to drive through.
A friend of mine who lives in San Antonio sent me some beautiful pictures of public light displays. She and her husband walked through the San Antonio Botanical Gardens, where these brilliant images are created by stretching colored fabric over metal frames.
They also took a boat along San Antonio’s famous and wonderful Riverwalk, which is amazingly lit for the holidays.
Bring on the lights! Are there particular winter solstice lighting displays that you love?
Mary Jo
Wow, these are gorgeous, Mary Jo. And San Antonio is a great setting for this kind of display.
So true, Anne! The San Antonio River Walk is always wonderful, and lit up like this, it’s AMAZING!
Lights piercing the darkness-always a good thing, Mary Jo. Tonight, I lit the fourth of eight Hanukkah candles. But even thoughI don’t celebrate Christmas, I love all of the light creatively displayed. There’s a street in Baltimore, 34th Street, where every single house is brilliantly decorated for Christmas (or Hanukkah) as the case may be. Personally, my favorite day of the year is December 21-the winter solstice-the shortest day of the year. Because from that day forward, the earth moves back into the light of longer days.
Yes, Binnie, 34th Street is truly a sight to behold! As are the Hanukkah candles. I agree on the Winter Solstice Day–it’s great to know that the day will start getting longer, bringing back the light.
Wow! That’s quite a display. How beautiful and colorful, Mary Jo! Thanks fir sharing.
Like, Binnie, i lit the fourth Hanukkah candle last night with friends in my apt. It looks so cheeful in the window against the night. The holiday light displays all over the village where i live are colorful and beautiful and pierce the darkness with cheerfulness! I love that people leave them up all winter.
Jane, it’s really hard to take lights down. Maybe by the Summer Solstice. Menorahs are beautiful both for the historical event they commemorate and for the light they bring.
I’ve not seen any fabric over metal frames before but those were gorgeous.
The big balls of lights hanging in trees are favorites. My husband and I happened on a street where the neighbors had lights strung up in the trees across the street and in the yards. So pretty.
Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain GA does a huge light display that you drive through. But one night each season you can walk through it. Always so spectacular to walk versus drive through.
Vicki L, I’d not heard of the Callaway Gardens display, but it sounds gorgeous, and good for them for allowing on night for people to walk through!
Thanks for the post. Lights mean a great deal to me. And winter does seem to be dark for a very long time. Even in the south,
Annette, lights are always good, and in winter being able to cuddle up by a fire with a good book and maybe a lap cat is a great way to wait for the Spring Equinox!
What a lovely post, Mary Jo, with those wonderful pictures. We leave our colorful Christmas tree LED lights lit from early December to early January. It’s nice to encounter them on a mid night ramble to the bathroom, and I miss them when they are gone. There is definitely something warming about lights in the darkness.
Kareni, I told my tree this afternoon that the lights will stay on a for a while! As you say, they’re so pretty that it’s very hard to turn them off. .
I love the lights. When I was a kid my mom and dad would drive us arond at Christmas to see all the lights and panoramas in the windows downtown, and through the neighborhoods to see all the houses decorated. I like the old fashioned lights so much better than all the inflatables and projections people display today — and much as I love twinkle lights, I have a soft spot for the old fashioned strings of big fat colored lights. Sadly, I note that lately every year fewer and fewer people seem to do outside lights and decorations, though you can still see Christmas trees through their front windows. Maybe it’s the cost of electricity these days – but I hope the custom doesn’t die out entirely.
Janice, I agree that the light decorated houses were lovely and they have sadly diminished over the years. Electricity and lights are expensive and they also take time to install and take down and we’re all so busy these days! But at least there are more extraordinary public light displays to admire.