RenoVous

  The sun set about an hour ago in the UK - the Winter Solstice at Stonehenge. Today also marks the beginning of Yule.  Many of our Christmas traditions were borrowed from the Viking's celebration of Odin, Father Christmas. With a long white beard and hooded fur coat, Odin would lead the Wild Hunt across the world on his flying horse, Sleipnir.  Children would leave their boots by the fireplace with sugar and hay for the horse and Odin would refill them with gifts. The people would also decorate evergreen trees with carvings and food for the spirits.  Holly and mistletoe were hung to ward off evil ones. The Yule Log was a whole tree meant to burn for 12 days and was to be lit with the remains of last year's log.  They would carve runes into the bark to wish for the protection of the gods and the return of the sun. Keep yourself warm on this longest night!

 Woke up to some frozen fog over the weekend so I took a walk down the street and through our yard. I figured this would be a good showing for the first day of Winter. Bit of that backyard view again. Happy Solstice!

We're going to skip fashion today for the Summer Solstice, which was Saturday. English Heritage shared a live stream to watch the sunrise at Stonehenge, but as we should expect with 2020, it was too cloudy for a good view. When the sun appears over the horizon on the solstice, it lines up perfectly with the structure, leading many to believe that it played an important role in Druid celebrations. Many cultures throughout history have paid close attention to the Sun, largely for its importance in agriculture and in understanding the change of seasons. Pagans, for example, would celebrate Midsommar with bonfires to boost the Sun's energy for the growing season. The Bighorn Medicine Wheel, built by Plains Indians, is also believed to be aligned with the summer solstice, and is thought to be the site of their ceremonial sun dance. Archeoastronomer Jack Eddy suggests the wheel was used to predict positions of the sun and other bright stars around...