# Happy Solstice! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 21, 2004, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-solstice/280998 "2004-12-21T16:50:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-solstice/280998/1 "2004-12-21T16:50:32Z")
So I’ve decided to “come out” and admit that I celebrate the wheel of the year. This is as close as I get to religion. Today is the winter solstice, so this is my “offical” holiday of the holiday season. I am the only person I know who celebrates these days (solstices, equinoxes, and the midpoints) without also worshipping any gods. Basically I take a spiritual sustenance of sorts from acknowledging the patterns that occur in our world. I know it sounds a lot like paganism but I don’t believe in any gods whatsoever. Winter solstice is the festival of light - a celebration of the returning of the sun. I will probably go home this afternoon and light candles to symbolize the light returning to our world. I may burn some incense as a kind of reminder that transformation is everywhere in our world and can create and contain beauty even as it destroys. I will probably have a special dinner, a “feast” of sorts. So, am I alone in this type of spirituality? I will never acknowledge any god or gods but I think that having a spiritual center is an important part of living a happy and complete life. I don’t practice witchcraft but I believe in karma. Sometimes I mimic pagan-like rituals but without the “gods” part - like making love in the open air on beltane (the midpoint between spring equinox and vernal solstice.) I do these things in celebration of life, death, dark and light. I believe these things shape our world and our lives. Just wanted to share with you all. I’d like to get people’s opinions/input but if I’ve put this in the wrong forum, I’d appreciate it if a mod would move it to the correct place. So happy solstice to all dopers and may you have a good year. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-solstice/280998/2 "2004-12-21T16:59:25Z")
Well, I don’t celebrate on any type of spiritual level, but believe me. . .it never slips by me. I’m always aware that the days will start getting longer, that I’ll have more time for bike rides, that even though it’s dark when I wake up, unlike on November 21st, it’s going to start getting lighter, not darker. Even though winter’s real teeth are still ahead, there’s always a good feeling being on the sweet side of the solstice. If you’re the celebratin’ type, I can think of a lot dumber things to get worked up over. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-solstice/280998/3 "2004-12-21T17:09:57Z")
Well, yes, it’s the solstice, and I suppose I could celebrate. But just to make sure, before I celebrate, I’m going to wait a few more days to make sure the days really will start getting longer. 🙂 Seriously, though, I do think this is a good time to celebrate, whether it’s in a spiritual or non-spiritual way. Astromical events, like other things in nature (of which we’re a part, no matter how hard we try to deny it), are things to pay attention to. They provide us with opportunities to reflect on our being, and the nature thereof. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-solstice/280998/4 "2004-12-21T18:16:51Z")
The Ms. obsesses on winter soltice, starting in November. I have to remind her every year that there are still four more months of winter ahead of us, but she’s just relentlessly positive about things, dang it. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-solstice/280998/5 "2004-12-21T18:18:20Z")
_Solstice_, goldang it. ::grumble:: ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-solstice/280998/6 "2004-12-21T19:05:33Z")
I always celebrate the passing of the seasons. I read somewhere once that the holidays need to be in winter, when things are darkest. I do know that in two months I will be walking home in the daylight. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-solstice/280998/7 "2004-12-21T19:36:59Z")
My husband and I celebrate the solstices. Usually we don’t make a big deal. We open our Christmas presents a few days early. The summer solstice falls on or around my birthday, so we usually have a casual solstice party for friends. (This is a good way to dodge gifts, it turns out, 'cause it’s just a solstice party, see, not a birthday party!) The physics department I teach in now has solstice parties, too, but that’s 'cause we’re all big geeks. For some reason I always end up too busy around the equinoxes to _do_ anything, but sometimes I pass out candy in class. (This is pure bribery-by-sugar. I fully admit it. 🙂 ) I acknowledge the cross-quarter days in class, too, because they’re fun to talk about. My deep connection with the cycles of the seasons comes mainly from the fact that I live west of town on an east-west road. So driving in, I get to see where the Sun is in the east, and driving home I get to watch it set in the west, so I enjoy thinking about where it is on its journey on the ecliptic. [Leondard Nimoy]And so, the cosmic dance continues . . .[/LN] ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-solstice/280998/8 "2004-12-21T20:21:21Z")
Happy Solstice and a joyous yule ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_griffin-kentzel/32/14787_2.png) [@Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Griffin-Kentzel)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-solstice/280998/9 "2004-12-21T20:35:27Z")
Happy Solstice, to one and all! ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-solstice/280998/10 "2004-12-21T21:07:20Z")
Happy solstice, and may this year be better than the last. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-solstice/280998/11 "2004-12-21T21:30:06Z")
I, for one, seek no solace in the solstice. In fact, I’m even equanimious about the equinox. ---
**Author:** ![Strinka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strinka/32/512_2.png) [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-solstice/280998/12 "2004-12-22T03:24:15Z")
I celebrate the solstice too. I actually made a thread about that very subject earlier today. [Link](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=293028) Don’t post there though. Let it die a happy death. Post anything about the solstice here. We don’t need two threads about the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-solstice/280998/13 "2004-12-22T04:29:02Z")
I’ll be making cookies and going to bed early, but I’ll be thinking about it. I don’t think I have a solstice cookie cutter, though. I’ll check. Happy Yule.