Winter Solstice- For 2016

     For the last few days here in southeastern Pennsylvania, we have had dreary, dismal days  with gray skies and little wind.  We haven't had real cold or snow yet, but cool, damp, even rainy weather, as the late afternoons became nearly dark.  During the last few days, local woods, fields, waterways and impoundments are dark, silent and seemingly lifeless, as if waiting for spring's coming.  They are not lifeless, but much of life is dormant and out of sight to escape the hardships of winter.
     This is the bottom of the year in the northern hemisphere when there is the least amount of daylight each day.  It's almost like the end of the world.  But it's really the end of another natural year. Biological New Year's Eve is December 21 and New Year's Day is December 22 in the northern hemisphere.   December 22 is a day to celebrate because it heralds the first day of the coming of spring when daylight each succeeding day will get longer, bringing with it increased warmth and new life.
     But I still embrace the gloom and early darkness of this time of year while it is here because it is part of the scheme of all things natural, and after the Winter Solstice comes longer periods of daylight each succeeding day and spring.  And there is a certain beauty and unbridled wildness in the early darkness and gloom that veils details of landscape, and the fleeting time of life's dormancy. 
     But some life is active through winter, right up to the gathering darkness of late afternoon each winter day.  Deciduous and coniferous trees are silhouetted black against gray, darkening skies.  Canada geese and mallard ducks fly up from ponds and creeks and are silhouetted against gray clouds or the sunset as they wing swiftly to feeding fields.  Groups of mourning doves, rock pigeons, American crows and ring-billed gulls going to their nightly roosting places are also silhouetted against the late afternoon sky as it darkens.
     Even chilling rain and snow, or fog, add to the beauty of this time of year, making it even more dismal, but natural and unique.  However, we know that dreariness is only temporary.  And we can more fully appreciate the long days of lovely, warm sunlight in the coming spring after we have experienced dreary, mid-winter days of gloom.    
     The early arrival of darkness in the cold of mid-winter is a good time to be by a hot, cheery fire, as our ancestors did long ago and not so long ago.  The fire will keep us warm physically and uplifted emotionally.
     The early gloom of late afternoon each day around the time of the winter solstice is as unique a part of nature as any other.  We can accept its beauty and wildness with cheer, and the knowledge that the dreariness of mid-winter is fleeting.  By the middle of January, we see an increase in the amount of daylight each succeeding day.  Joyfully, we survived mid-winter and are looking forward to spring's coming and arrival.