As I drove up the beach in Half Moon Bay, I was enthralled by the dramatic light from the approaching storm. Just a minute or two after I created this image, the sky went grey and it started to rain fairly hard
The Start of the Longest Night
For most people the winter solstice, as known as the official start of winter, is just a curiosity and that often gets overlooked being just 4 days before Christmas. However, Christmas is in late December because of the solstice. The early Christian church placed in Christmas in late December to co-opt pagan solstice festivals.
Almost every human society has marked the solstice in some way. The longest night creates a need for a festival or observance with lights to ward off the darkness. Armed with modern science, we know that the days will get longer again. Empirically, our ancestors knew this as well but I always suspect that they also feared that there was the possibility that days would continue to get shorter and they would be stuck in a perpetual darkness. I suspect many early societies had rituals or offerings to the Gods to make sure the days started getting longer again.
Every year on the solstice, I think about the generations came before us and for 1000s of years marked the solstice. The longest night is a connection humanity’s past. We feel the darkness less in the modern world due to electric lighting. But I think it’s worth it to take a minute and imagine how the longest night would have felt to our ancestors a 1000, 2000 or even 5000 years ago with only fire to ward off the darkness and the cold.
I spotted this illuminated roof line while walking to Penn Station one evening after dinner.
On the Way to Penn Station
Only a month out from the winter solstice, the sun especially at more northern latitudes radiates narrow but very warm colored light as it sets. Here it illuminates historic buildings in Brooklyn Heights.
Winter Light on Brick Buidlings
A fire escape on a historic building in Brooklyn Heights
Fire Escape in Brooklyn
This statue at the Brooklyn Museum is over 3000 years old but looking directly at it feels like you are in looking across space and time right into ancient Egypt.
Looking Across the Ages
The fading sun illuminates a building in Brooklyn Heights
Brooklyn Heights, Late Afternoon
5th Avenue in Manhattan is the center of the consumer commercial culture. All the famous high-end American brands have their flagship stores on 5th Avenue. In the foreground on the right is the roofline of Bergdorf Goodmans. The building behind is the Crown Building which is a beautiful piece of 1920’s architecture and especially striking when lit up at night.
Evening on 5th Avenue
As I walked through Manhattan on a cold November evening, I was feeling negative about the place. The temperatures were frigid, the cold wind was burning my skin and the crowds were large in the stores. New York City was feeling like a hard place to be. But then I looked up and saw the Empire State Building, one of the icons of the city and I felt better about being there.