The winter solstice is Saturday. At 12:11 p.m. EST Saturday, Dec. 21, the center of the sun passes over the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern hemisphere.
It’s the shortest day of the year in the Northern hemisphere, the longest in the southern.
It’s also the start of winter, which sounds dire. But it’s best to remind yourself, as you dance around a bonfire druidically, that it only gets lighter from here on in, at least until the summer solstice in June. Here comes the sun. It’s all right.