My grandpa would rap on the tree trunks to let them know they could start the shift toward waking up. It's an old old old folk tradition in his home region of Eastern Europe.

As the earth revolves about the sun... and rotates on its tilted axis... and its orbit is not circular... the geometry alone is rather mind-boggling. This is a cute NASA summary of the season's reasons... http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/seasons/en/ (Yes, I know, replies don't have working links.)

"Solstice" means literally "Sun stop." It's when the Sun reaches either its greatest northerly or southerly point in its annual motion. From these two points it *appears* to reverse and go the other way.

The summer and winter solstices mark the maximum and minimum noontime heights of the Sun in the sky (regardless of which hemisphere you're in, btw. Thus, our winter solstice in Northern Hemisphere is the summer solstice in Southern Hemisphere).

The changing height of the noontime Sun through the year is a result of Earth's 23.5-degree tilt on its spin axis. As Earth moves around its orbit, first one and then the other hemisphere tilt toward the sun, and so the hemisphere tipped toward the sun experiences summer. The hemisphere tipped away from the Sun gets winter.

The Sun reaches its minimum noontime height on the winter solstice. This is the shortest day of the year with the least amount of sunlit hours.

So imagine this: A fast-spinning ball, not even spinning on a perpindicular at that, but at a tilt, in a not-circle, so that over eons of geologic time.... billions of years to quote Carl Sagan, may he rest in star-peace....the planet doesn't go flopping willy-nilly, so that one pole is *always* closer and condemsn one hemisphere to always-summer or always-winter... Nope. We get the mind-boggling physics and geometry that allow four seasons. Try that one on Mercury...

The word I love is analemma. The word for the figure-eight the sun seems to make in the sky over your head through the year. All this b/c we have imperfections in tilt and orbit.

while i may not completely agree with all things astrology, i do agree with the reality of how planetary movements affect the energy fields all over the place and how that effects our bodies, minds and energies. so things like solstices retrogrades and eclipse fascinate me and i do let myself be aware of their affects. more often than not i'll hear it through the grape vine about an astrological event and do one of those face-palms going "Oh! that explains it!" lol.

the solstice is a big deal to me, arfie. thanks for the heads up. i get so absent minded. i don't necessarily follow traditional holidays. however i consider days like the solstice a good time to reflect and say my thank yous for the blessings i have.

i know a few traditions of bringing in the green to protect the spirits of the forest life. as it is known as the shortest day lost of fun can be had with traditions of filling ones house with light.

OK, I wasn't going to say anything, arfie, but as I read my hometown Montevideo newspaper everyday, as the tilt of the earth's axis away from the sun now takes us further into winter up here the tilt of it toward the sun down there is bringing on SUMMER. Oh, am I green with envy. Not just for the beach, but for summer theater like this.
http://www.republica.com.uy/el-teatro-de-verano-recibe-a-julieta-venegas/590969/

I'm not going down over winter break this year, but after New Year's I am getting away for a few days to Mexico. Can't wait!