Winter solstice
December 21, the shortest day of the year, marks the winter solstice. Shadows no longer shortening, begin to slowly stretch across the landscape, to cast over what few leaves still cling to hardening tree limbs, struggling against the impending cold.
For many, the 21st day of December signals the end of regress and, by extension, a reaching for the virtuous and promising days of spring once again—a return of light and life.
Soon the sun follows suit, and begins to warm the earth once again, calling forth growth and regeneration.
For thousands of years, cultures in the northern hemisphere have celebrated the winter solstice as a harbinger of hope and rebirth.
Plastic or false fruit is pulled into the light and placed centre-table waiting sage-like to usher in the ides of spring—a stoic reminder of better days to come, to get us through the darkened shadows of deep winter.
Well before Christianity, plants, trees and other vegetation that stayed green right through the winter had special meaning, especially for cultures that were buried beneath snow and chilled by frost for a good part of the season.
In the ancient world, people draped evergreen boughs over doorways and over windows as a signal of better days to come. In some ancient cultures evergreen shrubbery was hung over doors and windows to chase off malevolent spirits, evil ghosts and sickness that were believed to run rampant during the long nights of winter.
Further back, people believed the sun was a god and that winter came every year because the sun had become sick and weak. These people celebrated the solstice because it meant that the health of the sun would improve once again. Evergreen boughs reminded ancient cultures that soon the plants would all flourish and become green once again and that the virtue and good fortune of summer would soon return.
The Christmas tree as we know it here in western culture got its start in Germany, during the 16th century when decorated evergreen trees were brought into homes. Martin Luther, a 16th-century Protestant reformer, is believed to have been the first to add lit candles to a tree. He did this to replicate an experience he had while walking home one evening. He was struck by the brilliance of the stars shining through the evergreens as he went along composing a sermon. He was so inspired he was compelled to try and replicate the scene for his children and put up a tree in the living room in his house and wired candles to the branches and lit them.
Hydro outage update
BC Hydro crews had power up in less time than was initially expected during a planned outage, December 12.
The work was necessary to shorten hydro poles that extended into the air space at Powell River airport. The offending poles were deemed a potential hazard that could potentially interfere with the safe take off and landing of airplanes travelling into and out of the airport.
Jason Lombardo, sub-foreman for BC Hydro, and design technician Greg Williams, advised that power outage times were less than initially expected.
“The first phase of the outage that was initially planned from 6 am to 8 am, was back on at 7:30 am,” Lombardo said. “The second phase, scheduled to be back on by 2 pm, was actually back in service by approximately 12:30 pm.”
Williams explained that while they do understand that scheduled outages are an inconvenience, BC Hydro does its absolute best to make sure people’s lives are disrupted as little as possible.
Manager of Olive Devaud Residence on Kemano Street, Leonard Wegner, said that, in the end, Olive Devaud did not wind up experiencing an interruption in power, but that it was a useful exercise to enable them to go through contingencies in the event an extended outage does occur some time down the road.
