The Winter Solstice Music Phenomenon

Google "WINTER SOLSTICE MUSIC" and you will get hundreds and hundreds of current listings for festivals, concerts, recitals and recordings in small and large towns everywhere.  For some, I'm sure, it's just an excuse to throw a concert or party, but....
           ...  Winter Solstice actually is a BIG deal all over the world and has been for thousands of years. Concerts and celebrations have been going long before Christmas was placed onto December 25 back in the Fourth Century, assigned to that date expressly to COMPETE with Solstice celebrations.  When you consider that 2/3 of the world population is non-Christian AND that a fair number of Christians don't really celebrate Christmas,  it makes sense that this event is more pervasive than Christmas, since the physical and spiritual effects of this astronomical phenomenon affect EVERYONE directly,  independent of religion and culture. 

     Back when we were less scientifically knowledgeable and yet more connected to the apparent motion of the sun, back when surviving the upcoming deep winter months was actually a pressing concern, the sun's reversal in the sky from it's 6 month decline was truly a monumental event and a time to reflect and celebrate, especially if you were inexperienced enough to think that it might just disappear forever.   Here are some phrases from writings on the topic that paint a picture of what Winter Solstice has meant to people over the ages.

hope and celebration
      rebirth  and transformation
                        hope in the heart
           peace and renewal
                                          fertility, strength to budding life
          license and revelry
                inward reflection
                                                last feast
                             sharing and forgiveness

Path of the Sun for One Year Photographed at the Same Clock Time Once a Week - the Analemma

Celebrating the Solstice has always been intermingled with mythology, superstition, ritual, folk tales and religion.  In fact, many of the Solstice Concerts that I scanned included traditional Christmas and religious music - it is open game on how people celebrate the event and is often not intended to be an alternative to "religion", however,  for many, it is can be just that - an alternative to Christmas and Consumerism, without religion.    There is a perception that the Solstice Celebration is a Pagan or Atheistic ritual, but it really much more at its roots about universal human feelings and the anticipation of arriving at the shortest day of the year and heading into a replenishment of daylight - it is something anyone, regardless of their cultural overlays, mythologies and beliefs, can find reason to celebrate.   Solstice Celebration has attracted, in particular, New Age, Celtic, Native American, Jazz and Classical musicians in their attempt to enhance the spiritual experience of Winter Solstice through music.   But not just music----Below is a sampling of other ways people of all cultures have celebrated , and still celebrate the Solstice :


Animals freshly slaughtered for upcoming winter months provide feast.
    Wine and beer fermentation is complete and ready for drinking.
          Feasting and Gambling.
               Fornicating ( I'm not making this stuff up!)
                        Dressing up.
     Attending all-night plays.
             Gift giving to the needy.
                     Performing pranks.
                                  Visiting friends.
_______________________________________


Jazz Woodwind player Paul Winter has made a name performing music in celebration of Winter Solstice for some 32 years. Here is a sample from a Paul Winter CD with Uillean Pipes ( Irish bagpipes ) and soprano sax and pipe organ that captures the style of much of the "genre".
 

 "A Winter Solstice" series of 5 New Age CD's is a big Windham Hill favorite.  Not MY favorite, mind you, but popular nonetheless.

             A refreshing and welcome flavor to any Winter Solstice program is European Renaissance music (1400-1600). Because the character of the music and timbre of early instruments, it  fits right in to the introspective mood and is usually way more interesting and sophisticated than even the most adventurous New Age Music. 
   
  A SHORT EXPLANATION OF THE ASTRONOMY OF WINTER SOLSTICE:


Other than being the shortest day of the year  ( only 9.25  hours here in salt Lake City on Dec 22) ,  it's most interesting to know exactly what's going on, astronomically speaking.  But first, here are some other observations that we might make  on the day of Winter Solstice, Dec 22:

   1. It's the LONGEST day of the year if you live below the equator.
  2.  It's a day of 24 DARKNESS if you live anywhere above the Arctic Circle.
  3. It's a day of 24 SUNSHINE if you live anywhere below the Antarctic Circle.
  4.  If you live anywhere along the Tropic of Capricorn, the sun will be directly overhead at noon ( true noon, not clock time,  when the sun crosses the N-S Meridian)
  5. The sun will rise in the SouthEast at its farthest southerly point of the year and set in the Southwest at its farthest southerly point of the year.
  6. The maximum height or "altitude" of the sun at noon ( true noon)  is the lowest that it will be all year.
  7. The shadow from an eave onto a building is the highest from the ground that it will be all year.  The shadow cast by a tree will be the longest shadow of the year ( at noon ).



    The Earth, on the day of Winter Solstice, is tilted in such a way that the sun shines directly over the latitude line of -23.5º, which is about 1621 miles South of the Equator.  And since the Earth is turning on its axis, the sun STAYS right over this line, or great circle around the Earth.  This is such an important demarcation that we've labeled it the Tropic of Capricorn after an astrological event that used to take place that no longer does because of the Earth's changing position in the galaxy which is one of many many reasons that Astrology is a bunch of nonsense, but I digress.

  The "Declination of the Sun" on Winter Solstice is -23.5º ( the angle at which the rays of the sun hit the Earth relative to it's imaginary AXIS) and can be found for any day of the year by consulting a "Declination Table" and from this, if you know your latitude ( find this on your iphone or gps, map or internet),  you can calculate the "height" or "altitude of the sun at Noon
                90º  - Latitude + Declination    =    Altitude of the Sun 
Very handy if you are building a skylight or building overhang and want some control over where the shadows fall at specific times of year.
   Here it all is graphically - notice that Mr. Red who lives on the Tropic of Capricorn, has to look straight up to see the sun at noon.  Mr. Green on the Arctic Circle is in 24 hours of darkness as the Earth turns on its axis.  Mr. Mauve is in 24 hours of daylight on the Antarctic Circle.

Winter Solstice Dec 22, 2011

    BELOW, From a Local perspective, at noon, it is clear that the sun is low in the sky for Mr. Blue, looking South to his horizon.  Mr. Blue is observing from 40.73º Latitude in salt Lake City ( 40.73º north of the Equator). Here, at noon, the sun will appear 25.8º above the horizon,  on Dec 22, the bottom of its downward path, then heading back up for 6 months with a gradual lengthening the days, to replenish our souls and give us a reason to celebrate.  Mr. Green will be in total darkness, in theory, but in reality, right at the Arctic Circle it is still possible to see the sun on the horizon because of the refraction of the sun's rays.  Early polar explorers were somewhat surprised by this when their calculations didn't seem to be working.    Happy Solstice and congratulations if you made it this far in the blog post and this far into the Winter to witness the turnaround of the Sun.   (And some trivia - the original circle for these graphics were drawn with a pencil tracing along the bottom of a tuna fish can. )

Local Altitude at Winter Solstice in Salt Lake City, not exactly to scale