It's the shortest day and longest night of the year: Winter Solstice. In my mid-teens, I made a point of not saying "Merry Christmas" but rather "Happy Winter Solstice" when the holidays began – as the principled thing for an atheist to do. My sister-in-law improvised Winter Solstice songs for me, and everybody found it amusing. Now I'm still an atheist, but I recognize other reasons to celebrate particular days besides the astronomical moments of equinoxes and solstices – private occasions like birthdays and wedding anniversaries, public anniversaries of historical events, or celebrations with long traditions, like Christmas. Yet I still love Winter Solstice most, with its promise of longer days to come. (Andrew Shields, #111words, 21 December)
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