Tomorrow at 7:04 AM EST marks the solstice — the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

Here in the north, it is the shortest day, which means the darkest time is behind us; the days are going to start getting longer from here on out. I find that comforting.

It snowed most of yesterday and last night so this morning, the world outside my window is beautiful. The storm was not intense, just steady and gentle. We drove home at around midnight without feeling ourselves to be in any great danger.

This week, Dave and I have been singing in the Christmas Revels production with Revels North. We’ve been rehearsing every day for the past week and have six performances this weekend. The first two were Thursday and Friday. We still have two more today and two tomorrow.

There’s something strongly pagan about the Revels tradition, even though the music draws heavily from the Christian canon. This particular show features French medieval music, which I love–more proof that I was born in the wrong century, though I’m sure there are parts of the 1400s I wouldn’t have liked much. Plague comes to mind. And being some guy’s chattel would probably have rankled.

My favorite part of the show is the reading of Susan Cooper’s contemporary poem “The Shortest Day”. It begins:

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away …

You can read the full poem on Susan Cooper’s website.