The days are cold, dark and short. It's hard to get out from under the blanket in the morning, hard to get out of the house in the evening, and in general, you feel like cuddling, snuggling up, taking a hot bowl of something delicious, and gaze at the pouring rain through the window.
I like to listen to the drops and be grateful for the roof over our heads and the heating devices we own, and for the bowl of something delicious, and also for the people who accompany me in this weather, so that the cold doesn't get too deep into our hearts. I sometimes think of the people who lived here hundreds and thousands of years ago, of the gatherers and nomads – of the winters and rains they went through, and how it feels not to know whether you will have a roof during the rain, and where you will be tomorrow and if there will be enough food.
Among the passed winter days was also a day with a special date – December 21st, the shortest day of the year with the longest night of the year accordingly (only 7 hours and 41 minutes of light. 8 hours and 49 minutes less than the longest day of the year, in June …So if you felt that "the day flew by", that may be the reason). On the winter solstice, for those in the northern hemisphere, the sun is at an angle where the number of hours of sun light is the smallest, and from which, according to the earth's orbit and the angle of it's axis, the number hours of light begin to increase.
This year it happens that within the same one week the holidays occur, both celebrating the motif of light and darkness, difficulty and redemption – Chanukah and Christmas. Each has different rituals, different words and different outfits. The motif and story behind each holiday may be different, but the feeling is the same feeling – when it is cold and so dark outside, and the food mainly (if not completely) is based on storage from the last harvest, and it is unclear what will happen in the next year and when the light and heat will return – fear creeps into the heart (Some people call it the "winter blues". I call it "night thoughts" – the fears and concerns that can enter the heart and mind only when it's dark, and in the morning they disappear back to their lair). It is just human, so it is just clear that everyone needs a holiday in which you can gather, sing and create a lot of light, and together feel better.
Members of the Inca Empire dedicated a special holiday to the solstice date – the Inti Raimi, or the Raimi Festival, a holiday celebrating the sun god that was the most important god to them. On days when people stared at the sky for much of the day (because there were no screens, and staring at the ceiling was crowded and boring…) They came to interesting conclusions – for example, about the vitality of light for all life, and sanctified the sun. The Inti Raimi, the solstice holiday as well as the New Year Holiday – was among the 4 most important ceremonies, in which they bore a blessing to the sun god in his temple (of which only the foundations remain, the upper part became a church…) the people dressed in ceremonial clothing, sang, danced and made sacrifices so that the next year's crop will be successful.
When Catholics arrived to the Incas, they disrupted this traditional joy, or turned it into "St John the Baptist day" (which is close in time to the solstice day in the southern hemisphere), so the last documented time that the ceremony was conducted, in the presence of His Highness the Emperor, was in 1535. However, as of 1944, attempts to revive this ancient ritual began, according to descriptions preserved from earlier periods.
Another monument related to the winter solstice is Stonehenge – Pointing to the exact direction of sunset on the day of the winter solstice. The ceremony on the solstice day is carried out by the Druid and Pagan communities, supported by the England Heritage Foundation on the site itself, with ceremonies that include songs and dances (although it already happened that the celebrating audience, several hundred people, had arrived on site on the wrong day – exactly one day before the solstice, it seems that it did not ruin the party).
I wish us all to know to lift our heads occasionally to the sky and follow the sun's course…
Yours,
Maggie's Garden Team
Forecast:
In the ORGANIC vegetable baskets we expect (draft only):
Cucumber
Tomato
Lettuce
Potato
Cohlrabi
Eggplant
Parsley
Onion
Swiis Chard
The Large organic vegetable baskets also include:
Spinach
Coriander
Pepper
In the ORGANIC fruit baskets:
Sweetie
Orange
Pomelo
The large ORGANIC fruit baskets also include:
Red Pomelo
Clementine
New! New! The ORGANIC Green Basket:
Celery
Green Onion
Kale
Dill
A kind of lettuce
Mint
Sprouts
Swiss Chard
