Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 16, 2016)
1C THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2016 CONTACT US Rebecca Sedlak | Weekend Editor rsedlak@dailyastorian.com WEEKEND FOLLOW US BREAK facebook.com/ DailyAstorian LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS Ed Hunt/For The Daily Astorian An ornament hangs on a lighted Christmas tree. By ED HUNT For The Daily Astorian T hese are the darkest of days. Overcast skies rob us of precious minutes of sun- light in the late afternoons. Veil the sunset in coal dust, ink black with a mist of rain swirling ‘round a 4:30 porch light. We of northern latitudes and coastal storms hunch our shoulders and steel our minds against the short tongues of daylight wrapped in anemic gray, punctuated by occasional shards of sunlight, silver knives cutting through woolen clouds down to sodden earth. This season of dwin- dling day, coldest days and chill, longest nights robbed of stars, December’s cruelty. The days shrink and wither away, an erosion or life-giv- ing hope that ebbs as we approach the nadir of the year. Winter solstice arrives Dec. 21st at 2:44 in the morning when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn. It is the shortest day of the year, late sunrises and early sunsets. Long nights of starless forever-skies. It is the day when the Sun reaches its southernmost migration on our horizon. It is the fi rst day of astronomi- cal winter — yet from the solstice forward, each day will get fraction longer, each noon the sun will be a little higher in our horizon. W riter’s N otebook Year of darkness It has been a year full of darkness. Long before it had a name, or before we really under- stood what was happening human beings understood this cycle of ebbing light. I have stood inside Newgrange in Ireland — a 5,000 -year -old monumental structure of massive stones and white quartz designed to permit a shaft of light on the winter solstice such that on this one day each year — sun- light will travel down a 60 -foot passageway and the inte- rior of this man-made mountain will be illuminated with golden light. Newgrange is older than Stonehenge, older than the Great Pyramid of Giza. Men and women designed and built this complicated structure with stone imported from miles away. Intricate Neolithic architecture celebrating light that marks the end of creeping darkness, the return of the hope. We do not know the minds of Newgrange’s creators, nor their system of beliefs, to be sure. We know only that they went to great effort to capture the sun on the solstice each year — to illuminate hidden decorations deep within. Solstice traditions We know a little more about other solstice traditions that came later. Yule logs are a remnant of the Norse feast of Juul. Bon- fi res were lit as the sun “stood still” on its lowest point on the horizon. The fi res heralded the return of the sun — feasting would carry on while the Yule burned for days. Ed Hunt/For The Daily Astorian A homemade advent wreath. Yalda was an ancient Persian celebration of light over dark and the birth of the Sun God Mithra. Similar pre-Chris- tian traditions exist around the world. In parts of Pakistan, the Kalash Kafi r celebrate Chaomos — a time ritual puri- fi cation with torchlight parades and bonfi res. Slavic tradi- tions celebrate Koliada or Koleda in similar fashion. Jewish families celebrate Hanukkah, the rededication of the second temple, lighting a candle each night in the festi- val of lights. Symbolizing knowledge and creation, here too was a miracle marked by light as a single night’s oil burned bright for eight days. Some Scandinavian countries still celebrate St Lucia’s Day — a festival of lights that evolved out of Norse sol- stice traditions of lighting bonfi res during the longest nights of the year. Honoring the Christian martyr St. Lucia, young girls dress in white robes with a wreath of burning candles on their heads and serve bright yellow saffron buns to sig- nify the return of the sun. Early Christians focused more on Easter than Jesus’ birth. It wasn’t until the fourth century that the church decided to celebrate Christmas and fi xed the date in Decem- ber to coincide — and perhaps co-opt — with the Roman celebrations of Saturnalia and Sol Invictus , the birthday of the “unconquered sun.” As Christianity spread, the birth of the son of God and the festivals that celebrated the return of the sun co-mingled and infl uenced each other. Artifi cial light We fi ght against the darkness with artifi cial light. We string up our Christmas tree, light the candles on our meno- rah or advent wreaths. We make a fi re in the fi replace, yule log, bonfi re. It is perhaps not surprising that these cold dark days are when our hearts are most open to our fellow man, when we give a little more, care a little more. Charity and cheer, gen- erosity and forgiveness are built into all of these solstice tra- ditions because it is understood that in the darkness is when we most need the light. This is a dark time for our nation and for the world. Hatred has sunk its teeth into our fl esh. Many of our brothers have turned a cold eye to those who don’t look like us, worship like us, love like us. We point fi ngers rather than open our arms. Hopelessness and fear threaten to cur- dle our goodwill. In these darkest days, we can be the light that travels down the cold stone passage, that illuminates the darkness and brings hope of better days. We can be the light that opens hearts with kindness, charity and goodwill to our neighbors around the world and in our backyard. We may never know the words or ceremony of 5,000 years past or exactly how that thread may be woven into our modern traditions and beliefs. Yet we understand the need to capture the golden light in darkest December days. Ed Hunt is a writer and registered nurse who blogs on medical issues at redtriage.com and on other sub- jects at theebbtide.blogspot.com. He lives in Grays River, Washington.
