I love and hate this day!
Day length 7:49:40 and it's all uphill from now even if it is only a few seconds a day to start with..
I hate the short days and long nights and on this day I always feel we're turning a corner and moving upwards towards Spring.

It's something I'd rather celebrate than Christmas although I know Christmas was hijacked from the pagan festival of the WInter Solstice.

Me too. The dark afternoons and evenings make me feel like I haven't got a life.

I bloody hate December, thank god it'll soon be over.

Same! It's dark when I leave for work at 6am, dark when I get home at 6pm I end up feeling really ill as I'm getting 0 vitamin D. Can't wait for the light to come back.

Uphill is better than downhill. Every day improves. Be more positive.

I take a vitamin D supplement.

i thought this thread was going to be about druids whacking each other on their bare behinds with branches

I LOVE this day, he reason we are all celebrating the birth of the newborn sun in a few days time.

From then on, they days get longer , we are on the home straight !

finally we've reached the shortest day and now it's only going to get lighter for another 6 month.

I think you don't really notice the difference until the end of January but the fact it's not going to get worse is a bonus I cannot stand these dark mornings and nights

I love December. But would rather it was cold and crisp, it's a bit dank today

The winter solstice is actually the real reason we celebrate Christmas on 25 December. It was a pagan celebration as that was the first day people could see the hours of daylight were lengthening. It only became Jesus's birthday to coincide with that as he wasn't born in December at all.

I sit in an office all year with no windows. Winter is a double crux for me, no wonder I'm pale as snow with rosacea.

We should make more effort to celebrate this part of the year as it's truly a turning point , spring will be here in about 10-12 weeks but the lengthening days is what counts.

Happy Solstice Day

Got to love the people who don't actually know what pagan means just the bare wiki entry and common "internet knowledge".

As if 4th century Iranian zoroastrianism can be lumped together with Jupiter.

Don't be silly. Druids don't do that sort of thing on Solstice days.




They do it every other day of the year though.

Yup. We've reached the turn around point. Hurrah!
Nah it's been a good winter weather-wise for me so far. It hasn't rained on any Sundays and several times Sunday has been a lovely sunny day. As a golfer I can't reasonably ask for more than that

I know how that works. I used to have a 90 minute commute each way. Get up at 0530, get back home at 1800. For eight months of the year I didn't even bother to open any curtains during the week
I always made a point of getting out for an hour's walk at lunch time. I'd fear for my mental health otherwise.

I'm glad that moving on now we are on the up for our daylight. Won't really notice it until February time but still nice to know the shortest day is now done (nearly)

Ah but the evenings turned about 8 days ago. Sunsets are already later.

The solstice is just the point where the sunsets are getting later faster that sunrises earlier.

Sunrises continue to get later.

I had this discussion with my friend the other day. She hates the dark late afternoons and when I asked why she said she hated having to put the light on! Why? It's not as tho she can't afford the electric. Am I just lucky that it makes no difference to me whatsoever? OK, so I can't walk the dog across the fields late in the day or stay out side and do more gardening. I don't work on the farm where I used to have to catch the horses after lunch to bring them in in daylight. What is wrong with people? If you have a roof over your head, food in your cupboards, and reasonably good health, what difference does it make, whether it is light or dark outside?

Natural light has a positive effect on a good many people.

Wasn't December originally the tenth month of the year, before a couple more months got added?

Roll on Friday. Let there be more light.

Looks like sol isn't making an appearing on the solstice anyway here in SE London. 😒

My GP. tells us that everyone in Northern Europe should be taking Vit D3 all winter

Great guide 7 things to know about the shortest day of the year


and great blog on daylight hours