By Mary O’KEEFE

Yesterday was the winter solstice – the shortest day of the year. The winter solstice is the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the day during the year with the fewest number of hours of sunlight. We can choose to look at this as the kind of thing as the glass is half full or half empty because after winter solstice the days grow longer with more sunlight until the first day of summer, which is the longest day of the year. 

The winter “solstice” comes from the Latin “sol” meaning sun and “sistere” meaning to stand … the “Day the Sun stands still.” So of course this is a perfect time for monsters and myths. Monsters like Kogukhpak, subterranean monsters with bulbous bodies and frog-like legs that could only be killed by the sun – a story from the Yupik people, indigenous to the Arctic. On winter solstice, the Kogukhpak would emerge to hunt. Mammoth carcasses found were said to be the corpses of those that stayed out too long and died when the sun returned.

Then there were the angry hairy gnome-like creatures that lived underground and tried to cut down the tree of life. These were known as kallikantzaros. They of course could only be killed by sunlight and emerged during the solstice to wreak havoc on homes and villages. But (thank goodness) these creatures were apparently not the sharpest monsters in the cave and could only count to three. To stump and confuse them, villagers would put out colanders to ward them off. The kallikantzaros would concentrate on counting the multiple holes in the colander and would not notice the sunrise, which would then force them back underground.

Then there is Ireland; where else can such a beautiful story be created? The winter solstice has been marked on the Emerald Isle for about 5,000 years. The Sîd in Broga cairn at Newgrange, Co Meath was built around 3300 BC in precise alignment with the rising sun each winter at the solstice. Newgrange is well known for the illumination of its passage and chamber by the rising sun during winter solstice. In a very Indiana Jones way, as the winter solstice sun hits the opening of the mound at Newgrange, it travels up over 60 feet and into the chamber. As the sun rises higher, the beam widens until the entire chamber is illuminated. This is the only time it illuminates the very back wall of the chamber, making another magical fairy moment in Irish history.

For the holiday week the area will see highs in the mid 60s thru Friday and then, in accordance with all the winter solstice myths, the sun will begin to be in the sky longer and our temperatures will prepare for spring. On Saturday, Sunday and Monday we will see highs in the mid to high 70s, then will dip down with monster weather again on Tuesday thru next Friday with highs in the low 60s high 50s.