No clocks, no calendars, just governed by the Sun.

A story about the origins of Winter Solstice

Every year, here in the U.K in the month of December, we celebrate a day called ‘Winter Solstice’. I wanted to do some research on it and find out more, as it’s something I’ve always seen in the news - as well as people congregating around Stonehenge and celebrating the longest night, welcoming longer days.

After doing a bit of digging, this is what I found…

The day we call Winter Solstice is when the Earth’s axis is tilted at its furthest point away from the sun. For us in the northern hemisphere, the sun is at its lowest point in the sky - making it the shortest day, as well as the longest night of the year.

This of course also means very few hours of daylight, but the most incredible sunrise and sunsets!

I find Etymology (the study of the origins and history behind our words and language) fascinating. It’s something I have really got into in the past few years as I’ve got older, appealing more to me. Maybe it’s because I am a visual communicator by trade and passion, and finding the meanings and origins of words has as much interest as drawing them?

Anyway, after a bit more digging, I found the meaning of the word, ‘Solstice’.

‘Solstice’ is derived from the Latin word ‘solstitium’, as a result of the Sun appearing to ‘stand still’ in the sky when it reached the Tropic of Capricorn. This is an invisible line of a specific latitude (23.4 degrees south of the equator to be precise) around the Earth, and marks the Southernmost point that the sun can be directly overhead at midday.

‘Solstitium’ is composed of the words ‘sol’ meaning ‘sun’, and ‘sistere’ meaning to ‘standstill’. Cool eh?

Stonehenge is an iconic landmark in our British landscape (in Salisbury), and marking this yearly cycle may have been one of the reasons that Neolithic people made the construction of stones in the first place. The stones are aligned to the movements of the sun, and were shaped and set up to frame the annual solar cycle.

Can you imagine living in a time when your life was shaped almost entirely by the sun? No clocks, no calendars, just governed by light.

I have driven past Stonehenge many times on my way to and from the West Country, and it is such an anomaly. We know that the stones used in the construction are not from the area and, still, we can only really speculate on how it got there. Imagine if those stones could talk about all the things they have seen. They would have so many stories to tell.

Not only did I want to research the Winter Solstice, I always wanted to draw it. I set about researching photographs and picking a time of day where I wanted the sun to be setting, almost dipping below the stones, and casting long moody shadows.

It was really fun to paint, but I should have adjusted the composition and done far less foreground and much more sky. Maybe this year I can revisit it and draw another!

What do you think? Have you ever drawn or painted the Winter Solstice? I’ve added a materials list as well:

• Holbein Acrylic Gouache

• Daler Rowney System 3 Acrylic Paint

• Daler Rowney Glaze Medium in Matt

• Caran d’Ache Neocolor 2 water soluble pastels

• Faber Castell watercolour marker

• Caran d’Ache Supracolor water soluble colour pencils

• Jackson Arts soft pastels

• Sakura Koi colouring brush pen

• Daler Rowney FW Acrylic Inks

• Stabilo CarbOthello

Have you ever researched a certain word and its meaning? If so, let me know in the comments, I am always intrigued to know more meanings.

Until next time,