The darkest day of winter signals more light and signs of hope ahead.
This weekend, my family watched our annual viewing of “Elf,” which my children have seen every year since they can remember. What struck me about the movie this year was the beauty of New York at Christmas but even more ... the crowds! All the people standing so close together as they ride the Gimbel’s escalator or wait for Santa! They’re not wearing masks and they’re huddled together, breathing each other’s vapors!
That kind of visceral anxiety reaction shows what kind of year it’s been, and how much COVID-19 has changed our lives without us even realizing it. We still have a long, cold winter ahead WITH masks, without crowds, without many of our most cherished holiday rituals to get us through.
And yet Monday, Dec. 21, is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, and the beginning of the end of the darkest time of the year. It’s fascinating to think how many tribes and religions invented their own rituals of light to beat back the dark. The rituals of lights and evergreens exist to this day even if we’re not exactly sure why we do it.
Susan Cooper, who wrote a wonderful YA series about the battle between light and dark called “The Dark is Rising,” also wrote a poem called “The Shortest Day:”
“And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.”
It’s the same instinct we still feel as we hang our LED lights in early December, and know that despite the winter ahead, Tuesday’s sunset will be a few minutes later and there are signs of hope ahead.
Those most at risk from COVID-19 — the elderly, front-line health workers, teachers — will soon get their vaccines. This surely means a lessening of the pitiless deaths that keep expanding, more than 300,000 so far. It means our children may be able to go back to school, see their friends, take up their activities again. It gets us much, much close to normal life.
Another COVID-19 relief bill is imminent. It’s not nearly enough, of course, and will be only a blip to those who are suffering the most. But it’s better than no deal at all, and shows that despite a largely dysfunctional mind set, Congress can occasionally get things done.
We have seen the best of ourselves, people giving to those most in need, from out of work restaurant staff with Adopt a Server Kentucky to anyone who needs a little help at Lexington Mutual Aid. This year’s Good Giving Challenge at the Blue Grass Community Foundation raised a record $2.4 million, up 43 percent from the year before, sending tens of thousands of dollars to nonprofits like God’s Pantry Food Bank or the Nest, which help our most vulnerable neighbors.
We are not finished. We have to keep wearing masks and keep keeping our distance. Winter will be long and cold and lonely. But every day we’ll have a few more minutes of daylight. We’ve made it this far. We can do it. Happy Winter Solstice.
This story was originally published December 21, 2020 at 11:14 AM.
