Winter Solstice

 

 

  Photo by Gerald Berliner on Unsplash

 

"In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago."

 

Tomorrow, December 21st, is the Winter Solstice - the official start of winter, with the shortest day and the longest night. Gradually the days will start to get longer, even though temperatures will continue to fall. Click here to find out more.

The Met Office is not predicting a white Christmas this year, in fact the last one was 2010. Find out more here. So we're not heading for a 'bleak midwinter' as in Christina Rossetti's beautiful poem. Click here to listen to the Kings College Cambridge choir sing the final verse of 'In the bleak midwinter' with music by Harold Darke.

There are many winter solstice myths and legends. It became the most important time of the year as people created rituals to ensure that the Sun would return. The long, dark night of the winter solstice, the turning point of the Sun’s journey, was seen as the moment the light was reborn and the new year began, and came to symbolise, birth, death and rebirth.

Click here for a winter solstice folk song. 

Writing prompts:

• Can you  remember a 'bleak midwinter'?  Describe it in your writing. 
• Write about how you cope with these short days and long dark nights? 
• Do you look forward to the return of the sun and longer days? What will be reborn? Make a list of all the things that you hope the new year and eventually the Spring will bring.