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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2016
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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.