You may want to pause Saturday evening to acknowledge the dark and the winter solstice.
We hope your holiday season is filled with joy and laughter, comfort and cheer with family and friends.
Here at In Harmony, we work to connect our practices and our clients’ landscapes with the rhythms of Mother Nature. Thus we like to pause and acknowledge the winter solstice. The solstice celebrates our connection with the natural world, with darkness and light.
The solstice marks the shortest, darkest day of the year. It also marks the rebirth of the sun, when days begin to grow longer. This year the winter solstice occurs in Washington state on December 21 at 8:49 pm.
On Saturday evening you may want to pause to appreciate the darkness. This is the moment when the sun pauses too. It stops its apparent southward path and moves back toward the north.
You could find a place outside away from the bright lights. You could take a moment to think about your connection to the sun and its eternal motion, and your relationship with the planet.
Here is an excerpt from a poem by Margaret Atwood.
“…This is the solstice, the still point
of the sun, its cusp and midnight,
the year’s threshold
and unlocking, where the past
lets go of and becomes the future;
the place of caught breath, the door
of a vanished house left ajar…”
― Eating Fire: Selected Poetry 1965-1995
Solstice Celebrations
If you would like to celebrate the solstice in community with others, here are a few options.
Solstice Labyrinth Walk
December 20, 7 pm-12 am
Arcadia, 943 NW 50th, Seattle
Winter Solstice Walk
December 21, multiple time slots
Advance tickets required.
Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle
Make Music Winter Solstice Gathering
December 21, 5-9 pm
232 Front Street North, Issaquah
Downtown Issaquah Association
Winter Solstice Labyrinth Walk
December 21, 6-8 pm
Cottage Grove Park, 5206 26th Ave SW, Seattle
A Bonsai Solstice
December 21, 4-7 pm
Pacific Bonsai Museum, Federal Way
Winter Solstice Celebration
December 21, 7-9:30 pm
East Shore Unitarian Church, Bellevue
