Once I am out of bed and did the things I have to do the day is over. At this time of the year, the days are short. In the month of December short means, the sunset starts early if I see the sun at all. Of course, there's sun somewhere behind the grey although, I don't exactly where. We have that famous grey sky again. Today without fog for a change but still grey.
Here's the sunset and no, it isn't between 4 and 5 pm. When the sun sets depends on the time of the year. We have four seasons and Winter is the one I never look forward to. To others, it might look like those Winters Dickens tells about or the Dutch painter Anton Pieck drew (ice-skating, sledges, hot chocolate outside fun) but those Winters will be part of a tale soon since having fun is no longer allowed and we have to keep distance because of people with anxiety, those people who wouldn't set a foot outside anyway or fall through the ice while skating. Ever done that?
You reader might like the photo above more than the first but that one isn't taken today and not of a sunset but sunrise. Sunrise at 6 am or earlier. Grey too and the coloured road is the result of the lights of the car early in the morning.
Today the sky looks like this. It looks cold and it is. You can smell the cold and within one hour or so it will be dark. At that time it will be 3 pm or so and it feels like bedtime already. Indeed we all do get slowly used to the fact our days are getting shorter, we sleep more and go back home in the dark.
The longest night -or shortest day it's how you like to put it- is December 21st. This day is also called Midwinter and Midwinter is the celebration of light in the darkness. Midwinter is what the Roman Catholics changed into Christmas. A celebration that was celebrated long before God, Jesus or a Bible existed. So don't say we do not have culture or we celebrate to make other nations ridiculous. It's actually the other way around. You all worldwide stole our habits -Christmas, the tree, lights, the songs, food, Eastern and so on- after you started witch hunts and did as if our religion, our culture didn't count. We are what you call pagan today. We are the germanic people, those nations with a germanic history. A history the entire world loves to sweep under the rug.
The Germanic people had their own culture, habits believe and they still have. Indeed their celebrations changed are influenced by the Roman church but also new lifestyles but they aren't gone. In some smaller villages or on islands these habits are still alive. Some you might call barbarian if you knew about it. Because all of these people are white and started watching television and working long before you did, it doesn't mean they have no culture, no folklore. If you would really be interested you figured it out yourself. You would ask why we celebrate Saint Nicholas in many European countries and why the trickster is black but also what was the name of the God who did ride on a horse through the sky.
That's all I want to say today, enjoy your day and our celebrations.
It’s amazing how some parts of the world ice skating on Christmas and others suntanning on the beach.