The Dreariness
We’re about a week away from the winter solstice, and although where I live in the southern half of England isn’t nearly far enough north for it to be dark all the time, it is quite dark and gloomy. Mornings start in darkness, and the light is dwindling by 3.30 in the afternoon.
When it’s cloudy, it doesn’t seem to get properly light all day. Crisp, winter days are lovely, and although the brightness of them is short lived, at least it is there. It’s been so grey and cloudy recently we haven’t really had any of those kind of days!
As I’ve said before, I do like winter. I always think of that poem by Emily Bronte that describes how much she loves winter, and I feel just like that!
Part of it is my current situation. I know I would feel differently if I had to leave every morning in the dark to go to work at a job that I didn’t like in an office with no natural light, then come home in the dark.
As it is, I do need to get up early to make sure my middle boys get up for school, and I do have to be out sometimes during the hours of darkness, but on the whole it’s not to bad, and I’m mostly at home when it’s dark.
Although I do quite like the gloominess, with one thing and another things have been busy, we have been busy, and I have been feeling a bit stressed, with the result the dreariness of winter is currently weighing me down in a way that feels like tiredness. I have lots of sympathy for people who really don’t like winter at all!
The Light
I’ve realised that what I really like about winter isn’t so much the dark and the gloom as the cosy feeling of being indoors. The harsh light of a strip light, or a brightly lit supermarket or shopping centre that is supposed to make us feel like it’s the middle of the day won’t do it. It’s the comforting, warm cosiness of the gentle golden light of lamps, candles and a fire, that’s more like the light at sunset, than the bright light of midsummer.
I think that feeling goes right back to times before we had electricity, even before there were gas lamps and kerosene lamps. A fire meant not only light, but warmth, food, companionship and safety. It was where wild animals and unfamiliar people who might harm us were not. When there was less daylight, and it was colder, people would stray less far, knowing that they needed to stay close enough to where it was safe.
I can imagine what it was like when we were cave people, but it would have been like this later too. We take for granted that we can go out when it is dark and still see fairly well, and be relatively safe, depending on where we are, but it does mean that modern patterns of human behaviour don’t entirely reflect a way of living that suits us best. Instead of staying home, we are obliged to go out. We can travel large distances safely even in the dark, so we do, even when we often just want to stay at home with our loved ones and take naps!
Christmas
The idea of light in the darkness is one of the most appealing things about Christmas. Christmas lights, candles, Christingles, the idea of Jesus being the light of the world, twinkly Christmas trees, parks and woodland trails lit up so we can enjoy the light in the darkness.
The season of Christmas ends with Candlemas, which as the name suggests, has traditions associated with it involving candles. The day itself piggybacks onto a pagan holiday marking longer days and the beginning of the lambing season.
There are beautiful, poetic bits from the Bible about darkness and light. Some of them feature in Handel’s Messiah, with music to match. One of my favourites is the aria, Behold, Darkness Shall Cover the Earth. I like it because you can hear the light in the music.
That contrast between the gloom and the light shows up in all sorts of other ways too. Paintings by Thomas Kinkade of cottages with glowing windows, Brambly Hedge, Mr Tumnus’ cave in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the Rivers sisters’ house where Jane Eyre stays when she is destitute, and the lights in the story of Rama and Sita that guide them home.
The darkness on its own would be horrible. Like a cold, dead planet, or living without hope. There would be no light and no warmth. Every day would be a terrifying struggle for survival, and there could be anything out there in the darkness that could harm us.
Ways to Make Winter Nicer
I’ve said before about making winter more bearable if you really don’t like it. I would link to the post, except I can’t remember what I called it and trawling through 2 years of blog posts hasn’t yielded any results!
It doesn’t matter very much any way, because the next bit is a reminder!
Lamplight and cosy corners. Find a spot to claim as yours. Pop a lamp there, a little table, a cushion and maybe a blanket. Put your book on it, or a craft project so your husband or your kids are less likely to sit there. Then when you have a moment, you’ll have somewhere nice to sit.
Use timers for lamps. If it’s going to be dark when you get home, put your lamps on timers so that you can come home to cosy golden light instead of a dark house.
Dig out blankets and have them somewhere accessible. Feeling cold isn’t nice, but being wrapped up in a blanket is comforting.
Make nice things to eat. Now is not the time for salad. If you have a slow cooker, you can throw some meat and some veg in it in the morning, and have dinner pretty much ready when you are ready to eat it. It’s comforting not having to worry about it, even if it is because you did it yourself earlier!
Avoid going anywhere brightly lit later in the day. It might not always be possible to not visit the supermarket after the hours of darkness, but if you have some flexibility, it will probably feel less awful if you can go earlier, while it is still light. It’s also likely to be quieter if you can get there early enough.
And a seasonal one…
Do what you can to keep the more objectionable bits of Christmas to a minimum. It’s nice to think about what we like about Christmas, and it can be useful to identify what we don’t like. Obviously there will be things we don’t like that we will have to do, but there might be some things that feel like obligations that you can let go of. Don’t go to everything if it feels like too much, or if you’d be better using the time to rest. Don’t feel that you have to do lots of crafts, or put out lots of decorations. Take some time to enjoy the bits you like instead.
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