Today, around 11:00 a.m. in Britain, the sun will appear to stop, look around at the Northern Hemisphere, and think, "Nah...", as it always does, and start heading back south again. For some reason, we celebrate this celestial snub, and the further north you go, the harder the partying.
For example, the so-called "white nights" in St. Petersburg culminate in one of those invented traditions, known as Scarlet Sails (alye parusa), a slightly hysterical event deriving from, of all things, the end of the school year and a popular Soviet-era children's book, which nonetheless looks a lot more fun than morris dancing in a pub car-park or feeling the damp vibe at dawn at Stonehenge.
2 comments:
As you are probably aware, on the other solstice the Sun rejects the south and returns north to bless us once more with its life giving rays.
I was born on Dec 21,and take credit for this. I share it with a friend, with whom I exchange annual text messages on the subject of bringing the sun back through our combined efforts, and the thankless job it is.
I think what probably happens is that the sun forgets that no-one much lives down there, other than penguins and the odd scientific team, and ends up feeling it is wasting its time, heating up trackless wastes of ocean.
If we didn't wobble about quite so much, I'm sure it would be happy just to stick in the middle. Not that your efforts aren't appreciated. Enjoy your time off.
Mike
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