A strange thing happens to me near or on every Summer Solstice. I have a winter dream, with snow. This year was no exception. On Friday night I dreamt that I was driving in towards Windsor with my cousin Cathy. It was June but we'd had a rare significant snowfall the day before Solstice. It wasn't sticking much on the ground, but it was thick in all of the trees. So the tradition continues. Perhaps I'm really Australian, or Patagonian, since it is winter there just now.
Winter Solstice is a celebration of the return of the light, so sunrise is the best time to welcome back the Sun. At Summer Solstice, it is about celebrating the long hours of daylight, so necessary to grow successful crops. But at the same time, it is about mourning the approach of darker days. So sunset is the suitable time to celebrate this holiday. It is highly doubtful that prehistoric humans celebrated either event. For one thing, clear skies are needed for about ten days in a row, 5 preceding and 5 following the Solstice. For another thing, one would need a clear horizon. But since vast forests covered the lands, not to mention hills and mountains, it would be almost impossible to actually see the sunset or sunrise as we do today, looking across vast treeless fields.
Our cottage on Lake Penage, west of Sudbury, is a good example of this. From about the age of ten until about 40, all the days, months, and years spent there I was not able to see an actual sunrise or sunset, due to the trees and hills. The Egyptians could, however, from their desert location. And they had reason to keep watch on this event, as it heralded the annual flooding of the Nile. Even so, the actual event was only marked, and not celebrated. Stonehenge? No way, Jose. What about all those perfectly aligned stones? Well, there are so many of them, in a rough circle, that a few are bound to line up with quite a few things, through pure chance. But with no need to mark the Solstices or Equinoxes, why would prehistoric humans even bother? They were much more concerned with the cross-quarter days, such as Imbolg, Lammas, Beltane, and Samhain, all to do with their animals and crops.
Here is a painting from the DIA I have chosen to represent Solstice. Of course it is a winter one, because from this moment on, that is the direction we are heading. From an astronomy perspective, beginning next month I'll be able to start observing earlier in the evening, instead of waiting until almost midnight for dark skies.
Winter Landscape in Moonlight, 1919, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German 1880-1938.
Oil on canvas, 47.5" x 47.5".
This beautiful and powerful painting has been in the collection of the DIA since 1940, having been previously in the collection of the director at that time, William Valentiner, who fled Germany with it in the 1930s. Thanks to Dr. Valentiner, Detroit has one of the world's largest and best collections of German Expressionist art. He was also responsible for snagging our Bruegel painting, as well as one of the finest Rembrandt pictures in America. This winter one is a large picture, well over a metre square, and has an immediate impact on the viewer. Most art museums have very few great winter pictures on display. For some reason this one always cheers me up, showing a secluded alpine valley magically transformed by strange clouds filtering the moonlight. We peer over the mountains and down into the valley like some all-seeing god, dazzled by winter's power and the magic it can create. Nature overwhelms the human-built cabins, but also seems to accept them as part of the landscape. One of my favourite pictures!
My movie pick last week was from 1998. Down In The Delta is the only film directed by Maya Angelou, though she did not write it. A quiet drama of black family roots, struggles, and values, the picture is filled with warmth, and some really fine acting. Its restrained emotions and carefully chosen dialogue and situations will appeal to almost all viewers of family drama. Definitely worth a look. Filmed mostly in Toronto, and just outside of it.
Now showing on Criterion Channel.
Our county, Essex, is still under stage 1 stay at home orders, though Sudbury and most of Ontario has entered stage 2. My parents are able to go out again, and the stores and malls are open. I talked to Dad today, and they are both doing really well, which is always a relief to hear. They are very happy things are finally returning to some kind of normal. We will find out Monday if we can enter stage 2 down here, and when. Still several cases each day locally, though.
With Deb's suppressed immune system, we are not going anywhere soon, anyway. Definitely no travelling this year. The land border to the US remains closed until at least July 21st, but that will likely be extended again, at least until the US comes to grips with its rising numbers of Covid 19 cases. No Canadians want Americans coming over here just now, and very few are in a rush to go over there, either. Our mailbox, which we haven't used now in over 3 months, will see its contract expire. We have no idea when it will be safe (for us) to cross the border again.
Mapman Mike
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