Today, according to my little diary, is the day of the winter solstice (15:54 UTC, if you want to get technical). Many a time and oft have I read of Midwinter, and its more popular cousin, Midsummer. Picture my astonishment, therefore, on discovering that these are simply different names for the winter and summer solstices.
Which seems bizarre. The only way in which the solstice is the same thing as the middle of winter is that it’s the shortest day of the year. And yes, short days are associated with winter.
To be perfectly frank, the shortest day is not particularly remarkable. Why? Because winter weather is such that one day may seem to be two or three hours shorter than the day before (or after), depending on how gloomy and dark the clouds are.
Don’t believe me? Watch your cats. On a dark day, they will begin agitating for their dinner hours earlier. Do they care what time the sun goes down? No. As far as they’re concerned, if it’s dark, it’s dinnertime, never mind what the sun thinks it’s doing compared to yesterday.
New Zealand doesn’t have any public holidays between Queen’s Birthday (first Monday in June) and Labour Day (fourth Monday in October). This is clearly unsatisfactory. Something on the lines indicated above, round about the end of July, seems called for.
Suggestions?
Resisting all temptation to quote a Shakespearian play title, I will merely say that I never Dreamed you had not noticed that Midwinter and Midsummer occur at the respective solstices.
I have long been a person who counts the seasons by their full calendar months, instead of the 21st of the first month as the UK does. I assume it’s some sort of admission that Spring/Summer weather doesn’t arrive on the first of March/June, but they live in hopes for enjoying it three weeks into the month. Do they also think the summer weather will end long before September?
Unless there is an early thaw, or a heatwave as happened in May 2018, this weekend does not count as Midsummer/ Midwinter.
As for southern hemisphere winter, I vote setting up a Winter Feast as a Public Holiday!
As long as there’s going to be a roaring fire with it!