Winter Solstice – Full Cold Moon – Lunar Eclipse!

This year December 21 is not only the Winter Solstice–we also will have a full moon and a lunar eclipse all on the same day!

This preceding weekend I went to a Winter Solstice Celebration that included drumming , dancing , meditation , and position our intention for the twelvemonth to come . Each meeter was apprise to convey a sweet or spicy bite for sharing ; something symbolic of the season for placing around the Christmastime log ; and a journal for admit notes . The yule logarithm was in the center of a large unripe textile ; and the log itself was decorated with raffia and greenery and had three tapers in it . The material was circularize with votive cd and a few natural ornament and we were asked to place the symbolical thing that we were inquire to bring . Mostly there were pine boughs , true fir and juniper , variegated and green holly , rosemary , assorted pinecone — natural greenery of the time of year . It was beautiful with the fragrant K and the effervescent candelight and I am sorry that I did not take my television camera . The eve was fun and full of life and the room smack of a compounding of fresh greenery , olibanum and raging mulled Malus pumila cyder .

Tomorrow , Tuesday , December 21 is the winter solstice . It is not just the solstice — there is a full cold moonlight at 3:13 a.m. EST — and we will also see a full lunar eclipse in the teensy hour after midnight tonight ( actually on December 21 ) from about 1:30 a.m. to 4:30 a.m Eastern Standard Time . Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory , who inspected a list of eclipses going back 2000 class , cover : “ Since Year 1 , I can only ascertain one late instance of an eclipse oppose the same calendar date as the solstice , and that is 1638 December 21 , ” says Chester . “ Fortunately we wo n’t have to look 372 years for the next one … that will be on 2094 December 21.”https://science.nasa.gov / skill - tidings / skill - at - nasa/

Late on December 21st or early on the 22nd , reckon upon where you live on this earth , begins the celebration of the Winter Solstice . This is the shortest daylight of the twelvemonth and the longest night . From this day until the first of January is a time for reflection and peace of mind , as well as solemnization . Although the Winter Solstice marks Midwinter , from now on the days become longer , hardly obtrusive at first , until we reach the Summer Solstice on June 21st , when we receive the opposite , the farsighted mean solar day and shortest dark of the year .

Literally translate from Latin , solstice means “ sun brook still . ” During this long dark and shortest day , the sun is farthest from the Northern Hemisphere . Throughout history , people have agnize this mean solar day on the calendar as a turning point , when the Lord’s Day reemerges and each day becomes a little longer . The Winter Solstice is considered the birthday of the unvanquished sun and the bit of new beginnings .

Ancient rituals of the solstice were festive thing . Often they were lionise with twenty-four hour period of banqueting , coloured costume , euphony and dancing . Brobdingnagian bonfire were build and burn , believing it would encourage the invisible sun to return to warm the frigid earth . It is difficult for us to fathom the true deepness of winter as our ancestors did , they constantly felt the need to preserve Light Within and to ensure the return of the sun . now , we light our homes both within and out , sometimes just with a candle in the window or a blast in the hearth or decoratively with drawing string of colored light . However , the symbol of illumination is still the same as it has been since ancient time . During the dark and stale days when we spend more times indoors , we wave the luminousness , hop-skip it will renew our feeling .

The Yule log is among the one-time custom , a reminder of the grandness of fervour in the dark of midwinter . It was usually light on Solstice even from the remnant of last year ’s Ellen Price Wood ; it was very authoritative to pass the flaming from one year into the next . Beliefs deviate wide about what type of Sir Henry Wood the log should be , if it burn for twelve hour it will bring good luck , if you keep it going until the novel year the harvests for the next year will be bounteous , and many more . If you do n’t have a open fireplace or blank for a bonfire , you may still choose a logarithm to decorate or just have a dewy-eyed ceremony of lighting a long - burning wax light .

Whatever your seasonal traditions might be — here ’s wishing you a mirthful vacation – and a happy , healthy and herbal new yr ! We gardeners appear forward to longer 24-hour interval , the thawing and the brightening , and a new growing season . Meanwhile enjoy the quiet time and wrench in ; keep this season .

ok Gardening Recommended Products

A.M. Leonard Deluxe Soil Knife & Leather Sheath Combo

okay Gardening receives a commission for detail purchase through links on this site , including Amazon Associates and other affiliate ad programs .

Get our latest tips , how - to article , and instructional picture institutionalise to your inbox .

contract you up …

Winter Solstice Marks the Return of the Light

Winter Solstice Wedding

Celebrate Winter Solstice

Celebrate the Winter Solstice

Join hunky-dory Gardening for a free hire live webinar feature Dr. Janna Beckerman , a noted industrial plant diagnostician as well as professor emerita at Purdue University and the ornamental expert handler …

When I fleck a particular gumption buck cactus ( Astrophytum asterias ) at the Philadelphia Flower Show a few month ago , I roll in the hay I was in hassle . With a delightful people of color normal …

When we only prioritise plant life we want over industrial plant our landscape needs , each time of year is filled with a never - end list of chore : pruning , pinching , tearing , treating , amending , and fertilizing , with …

Video

Touring an Eco-friendly, Shady Backyard Retreat

You must be deliberate when you embark the backyard of garden designer Jeff Epping — not because you ’re potential to trip on something , but because you might be dive - bombed by a pair …