Reflections on the Winter Solstice

In the Northern Hemisphere this year, December 21, the day I’m posting this entry, is the winter solstice. As Catherine Boekmann of the The Old Farmer’s Almanac explained, “the winter solstice is the day with the fewest hours of sunlight…making it the ‘shortest day’ of the year.” Put another way, the winter solstice has the longest number of hours of darkness in any day throughout the course of the year.

As Boekmann noted, many cultures have placed significance on the winter solstice: “Some ancient peoples even marked the solstice using huge stone structures….” Two such places she pointed out are Newgrange in Ireland and Stonehenge in England. Other cultures have celebrated the winter solstice with feasts and festivals, and Boekmann listed as examples the feast of Saturnalia as celebrated in ancient Rome and the festival of Juul as celebrated in ancient Scandinavia.

Winter solstice Stonehenge 2004 (Wikimedia/Vicky WJ)

As the editors at History.com have explained, many of the traditional Saturnalia customs show up in modern Western celebrations of Christmas, “including giving gifts, singing, lighting candles, feasting and merrymaking….” Modern echoes of the festival of Juul (also spelled Jól or Yule) can also be found. The History.com editors have noted that “Yule celebrations involved great amounts of feasting and drinking” and “similar to making a New Year’s resolution, the swearing of oaths was a tradition at Yule celebrations.”

For me this year, the darkness of the winter solstice seems a more apt description of my mood than the joyful aspects of these ancient celebrations. Since about October, I’ve had a song running through my head that features the line “in the bleak mid-winter.” Even though October is clearly not midwinter, my sentiments have felt midwinter-like since then, dark and bleak and dreary.

The lyrics of the song are from Christina Rossetti’s poem “A Christmas Carol.” It’s only the opening stanza of this poem that has been running through my head:

In the bleak mid-winter

Frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron,

Water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow,

Snow on snow,

In the bleak mid-winter,

Long ago.

The words “bleak,” “frosty,” “hard as iron,” and “like a stone” seem to capture my emotions best. And the long “o” sounds throughout the stanza evoke the sounds one might make when mourning.

The tune that accompanies the lyrics is fairly dirge-like to me. It’s certainly not an uplifting, lilting tune in any case. In church when I was a kid, each Christmastime we sang the hymn called “In the Bleak Midwinter” that used Rosetti’s lyrics, and when I now imagine it being sung, the doleful, repeated “snow on snow” line strikes a chord. You can listen to a portion of the instrumental version of it on the Hymnary.org website and sing along.

All this might lead some to ask why I am feeling so bleak. The reasons are many. I’ve mentioned several in my blog posts over the past year. In January, a friend’s situation prompted me to write about relationship abuse. In April, May, and June, I wrote about emergencies, coping, and coping with emergencies, all of which were prompted by current events, such as natural disasters, wars, data breaches, political polarization, the de-funding of public media, and health emergencies like measles outbreaks, bird flu, and collective trauma from the COVID-19 pandemic.

To continue the list, July brought a post prompted by threats to the existence of the Fulbright Program. And my September and October posts focused on health writing, where I mentioned many instances of medical disinformation currently proliferating. If that’s not enough to make anyone feel bleak, I don’t know what is. But that list only covers widespread stressful events, not to mention stressors of a more personal nature.

So, this winter solstice, others might be celebrating that from this point forward those of us in the Northern Hemisphere will be enjoying more hours of sunshine each day. But I’m feeling bleak and have been for several months. And I know I’m not the only one feeling this way.

In the Power Lines podcast I listen to weekly, one of the hosts, Jon Passantino, said on December 5, 2025, “I think we’re living in Hell…” (at 0:01). His comment was in reference to investigations into recent possible war crimes and/or murder committed by the US Department of Defense. In the same episode, his co-host, Oliver Darcy, called the current moment “disturbing and…highly alarming” (24:58–25:03). His comment was in reference to current US government infringement on the freedom of the press.

I hope that despite these dire circumstances, you’re not feeling as bleak as I am. If you are, know you’re not alone. And as a way to counteract so much bleakness, let’s all try to find ways to spread some love around. Certainly we could use it.

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All About August Holidays

If you live in or are from the United States, you likely know that the month of August is one month without an official US federal holiday. In fact, according to the US Office of Personnel Management, in 2022, every month except March, April, and August has a federal holiday. This might surprise you, as March, for example, is when we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, which I’ve written about before. But, not every major holiday is a federal holiday, so even some months without federal holidays have something to celebrate. The fact that August doesn’t have any of these holidays can make the month seem to drag on with nothing to celebrate.

A double rainbow in August. (Personal collection/Karen P. Peirce)

However, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, August contains lots of reasons for celebration. In my research on the subject, I came across a list of August holidays provided by NBC’s Today show. Shelby Deering, who compiled the list, found holidays and observances that are celebrated on every single day in August. Here are a few of my favorites:

August 9: International Day of the World’s Indigenous People

Originated by the United Nations in 1994, the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People “marks the day of the first meeting, in 1982, of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations.” The aim of this holiday is to “raise awareness of [indigenous] population groups.” As the UN points out, “indigenous peoples are inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures and ways of relating to people and the environment,” so it seems appropriate to celebrate their uniqueness.

In addition, as the UN notes, indigenous people “make up less than 5 per cent of the world’s population, but account for 15 percent of the poorest” and suffer “problems related to the protection of their rights as distinct peoples.” As such, it seems the least we can do to set aside one day a year to recognize indigenous people in the hopes of raising awareness about the struggles they face. Why not celebrate hope for positive change?

August 19: World Humanitarian Day

World Humanitarian Day is another holiday that was originated by the United Nations. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the holiday, which was established in 2008, commemorates the death on August 19, 2003, of 22 humanitarian aid workers in Baghdad, Iraq. Included among the dead was the UN Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Iraq.

As indicated by OCHA, more people than you might think can be considered humanitarians. A few of the humanitarian aid workers OCHA indicates deserve special recognition each year on this date are the teachers, drivers, counsellors, health workers, shelter specialists, data analysts, protection officers, water specialists, security advisors, emergency responders, advocates, fundraisers, and negotiators who spring into action whenever a humanitarian crisis erupts. World Humanitarian Day seems like a great opportunity to recognize those who work to help others.

August 20: International Homeless Animals’ Day

The International Society for Animal Rights (ISAR) established International Homeless Animals’ Day in 1992. The observance’s aim is to “halt the suffering of unwanted companion animals and feral and stray cats and dogs that have been abandoned and left to fend for themselves.” According to the ISAR, not only is this holiday celebrated throughout the United States, but it is also celebrated around the world, including 50 countries and six continents. Who doesn’t love a chance to help animals?

August 26: Women’s Equality Day

A bill establishing Women’s Equality Day was introduced in the US Congress in 1971 and passed in 1973. According to the National Women’s History Alliance, the bill noted that the observance “calls attention to women’s continuing efforts toward full equality,” and the date of August 26 was selected to commemorate the anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women in the United States the right to vote. As a woman, I might be biased in favor of women’s equality day, but as a human, I think any day that honors the equality of all humans is worth celebrating.

So there you have it, a selection of holidays to celebrate during the month of August. Why not look through the list and choose a few you think are worth celebrating? I’d love to hear which ones you pick! 

In Honor of Earth Day 2021

Today is Earth Day, a day that promotes and advocates for conservation, environmental protection, and sustainability around the world. To commemorate the occasion, I thought I’d share a blog post about an initiative sponsored by the US government that promotes solar energy. As with my previous post, I first wrote this entry for a client, but that client decided to cancel his blog before I could submit this post to him. So, I decided to upload it here instead with some edits. I’ll be glad to know your thoughts!

College Students Shine in the US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon

From preschool through the twelfth grade, students studying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have no shortage of STEM-related competitions to enter that will challenge their abilities. College students also have the opportunity to hone their skills by participating in STEM-related competitions. One of these competitions is the US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. Read on to learn more about this long-running event.

Overview of the Solar Decathlon

According to the Solar Decathlon’s website, the competition was started in 2002 as a way to highlight not only the potential of solar technologies but also to show the potential of building with renewable resources while maximizing affordability, resilience, and health. College students who participate in the competition aim to blend outstanding design features and engineering feasibility to either design or design and build a variety of buildings. Teams that participate in the competition are expected to focus on innovation, marketability, efficiency, and use of smart energy.

Trophies for the four top overall finishers at the US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2017. (Flickr/John De La Rosa)

As the US Department of Energy explains on its Solar Decathlon website, the competition’s purposes are to prepare students to enter the clean energy workforce; to educate the public about energy-efficient design, clean energy technologies, smart home solutions, electric vehicles, and high-performance buildings; and to demonstrate the comfort of efficient homes that rely on renewable energy. To date, the competition has involved 465 teams totaling 23,000 participants from more than 23 countries. Houses designed and built as part of the competition are located in 35 US states, Puerto Rico, Washington DC, Spain, China, Canada, Germany, Belgium, New Zealand, Austria, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

In order to participate, teams must apply and have their applications evaluated by engineers, scientists, and building experts, as outlined on the Solar Decathlon website. The 10 contests that make up the Solar Decathlon focus on energy performance, engineering, financial responsibility and affordability, resilience, architecture, operations, market potential, comfort and environmental quality, innovation, and presentation. Additionally, the competition is divided into two parts, one focused on designing and one focused on building.

About the Design Challenge

The Design Challenge portion of the Solar Decathlon is an annual opportunity, according to the official website. In the Design Challenge, college students work over one or two semesters to identify creative solutions to real-world problems in the building industry. Teams compete in several divisions, each one focused on different kinds of buildings.

In 2020, the grand-prize-winning designs highlighted on the Solar Decathlon website were from the University of Oregon, which designed an elementary school building, and the Miami University of Ohio, which designed an attached housing building. First place winners in the other divisions included Monash University, which is located in Australia, with a suburban single-family building, the University of British Columbia, which is located in Canada, with an urban single-family building, the University of Arizona with a mixed-use multifamily building, and the Illinois Institute of Technology with an office building. These teams represented the best of 45 teams from 31 colleges and universities that entered the competition.

(*Note: Since the time I originally wrote this blog post, the 2021 Design Challenge has taken place, with winners announced on Sunday, April 18. Winners of the 2020 Build Challenge, discussed in the next section, were also announced on that date and can be found in the same announcement as the 2021 Design Challenge winners.)

About the Build Challenge

The Build Challenge, according to the Solar Decathlon website, is a biannual contest that requires not only designing but also building a house that can be lived in. Teams competing in the Build Challenge spend two years completing their houses, which they build in their local communities. A feature for the highest performing teams in the 2020-2021 competition is presenting their work at the National Association of Home Builders International Builder’s Show.

The most recent colleges and universities listed on the Solar Decathlon website as having teams participate in the Build Challenge are located both in the United States and globally. In the United States, Kansas State University, the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Denver, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Nevada Las Vegas, and Weber State University are listed. Internationally, the Hogeschool Utrecht University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María in Chile, and the University of Waterloo in Canada are listed as participants.

International Reach

In addition to the Solar Decathlon hosted in the United States, Solar Decathlons are held internationally as well. Listed on the Solar Decathlon website are competitions held in Africa, China, Europe, India, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East. The competition in Africa was initiated in 2016, the China competition was first held in 2011, and the competition in Europe began in 2007. Meanwhile, the competition in India was begun in 2020, while the Latin America and Caribbean competition was established in 2014, and the Middle East competition was started in 2015. These international competitions host teams from around the world, similar to the United States competition.

 

The Origins of Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, and I admit it has never been a favorite holiday of mine. My first negative experience with Valentine’s Day occurred in 5th grade. It was the day I realized my relationship with my first boyfriend was over. I had bought him a Valentine’s gift (a key chain and a heart-shaped lollipop—how romantic!) and brought it to church to give to him (Valentine’s Day must have been on a weekend that year or I probably would have given him the gift at school). Alas, he didn’t have a gift for me. Unsure what I should do, I asked my mother for advice, and she said I should give him his gift. So, I walked up to him in the Sunday school hallway and handed him the gift, saying, “My mom said I should give this to you.” Smooth, huh. The next thing I remember about that relationship is our homeroom teacher reassigning our desks so we didn’t sit next to each other anymore.

After that great introduction to love, Valentine’s Day has not held much joy for me. Sometimes I’ve been in a relationship when the holiday rolls around, while other times I haven’t. In either case, it seems to be more trouble than it’s worth. If I’m in a relationship, all kinds of concerns come to mind. What gift should I buy? Should we have a romantic date or do something lighthearted to mark the day? What would best express how I feel about this person? If I’m not in a relationship, enduring a day devoted to the romantic love I don’t have is just no fun. Oh sure, people can say the holiday is not just about romantic love, but I think they’re misguided. Why? Read on to find out:

1. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Valentines’ Day commemorates St. Valentine, one of a few possible martyrs to love. One possible St. Valentine conducted wedding ceremonies to save men from having to serve in war, putting him on the bad side of the emperor. Another possible St. Valentine was imprisoned, fell in love with his jailer’s daughter, and sent her a note signed “from your Valentine” despite the dangerous position this placed him in. Based on these stories, it can be said that today we celebrate Valentine’s Day to honor the romantic love that prevails in spite of obstacles.

2. History.com suggests there’s another possible origin of Valentine’s Day. The holiday could have come about as a replacement for the festival of Lupercalia. As early as the 6th century BCE, this festival celebrated fertility and involved smearing goat’s blood on women. It also involved conducting a lottery to match men and women for the duration of the festival. Apparently, many of these couples stayed together until the next year’s festival and went on to marry. Romantic love is clearly the theme here, although celebrating it took a form that looked a lot different than what we do today.

3. Another idea about the connection between Valentine’s Day and romantic love has to do with medieval beliefs about the mating season of birds. According to the Folklore Society, medieval French bird watchers felt certain that birds began mating in mid-February. According to this account, because there were no calendars during medieval times, it was easier to remember significant dates by assigning them to one of the Catholic feast days, and these bird watchers just happened to choose Valentine’s Day as the official start of bird mating season instead of one of the other feast days in mid-February. Nonetheless, Encyclopedia Britannica notes the bird-related association between romantic love and Valentine’s Day persists. For example, I’ve noticed today’s Valentine’s Day cards often feature the term “lovebirds” as well as images of birds being “lovey dovey” together. There’s no doubt about the romantic nature of the love being promoted here. 

 

Valentine Mechanical Bird (Flickr/Karen Horton)

 

4. Finally, Valentine’s Day as celebrated in other countries lends support to the idea that the holiday is all about romantic love, not other kinds of love. For example, in South Korea, what we in the United States call Valentine’s Day is so specifically about the romantic love between men and women that it takes at least three holidays to celebrate it completely. As the Asia Society explains, in South Korea, Valentine’s Day is reserved for women to shower the men they love with affection. A month later, White Day, which is celebrated on March 14, is a similar day for men to show their female love interests how they feel. Finally, April 14 is set aside as Black Day for all the single people to bemoan their single status. When I lived in Korea, these were the only three love-related holidays I was aware of. However, the Asia Society notes that in Korea, every single month has a day set aside to celebrate romantic love, although these other days are less promoted than the big three of Valentine’s Day, White Day, and Black Day. Apparently, romantic love is of utmost importance to South Koreans, with Valentine’s Day being just one example!

 

So there you have it. It seems clear that Valentine’s Day is all about romantic love, leaving me feeling the same about it as when I started this blog post. Oh sure, some of the articles I cited mention that over the years, Valentine’s Day has sometimes come to include expressions of other kinds of love, such as platonic love, familial love, or similar. While I’ll be happy if people who feel these kinds of love for me decide to express their feelings on Valentine’s Day, I still think the day is more trouble than it’s worth. If you feel romantic love for someone, that’s great…but why do you need a special holiday to show it? Why not let your loved one know how you feel every day? In the meantime, I’ll look ahead to celebrating St. Patrick’s Day next month!