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Top Comments: Winter Solstice Edition [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-12-21
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Today is the winter solstice. Today was the shortest day, and tonight, the longest night of the year. Pagan traditions across the northern hemisphere marked this day to be observed with rituals and celebrations. (The southern hemisphere, through no fault of its own, somehow got it backwards.) The winter solstice is why Christians celebrate Christmas at this time of year, as a recent diary pointed out—Christians were up against competing with popular pagan celebrations at this time of year, and realized that their only path to compete with the pagans was to co-opt them. Jesus was not born on Christmas, but if you want to make the birth of Jesus into a big celebration, claim it was on a day that already had a big celebration.
Whether or not you’re religious, the winter solstice makes a good time to take stock of what has happened in the previous year, and to consider what may be coming. In the age of Trump, I wrote winter solstice diaries in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, all comparing the Trump presidency to an era of political darkness, and that we had to act (or, more specifically, VOTE) in order to bring a return of the light. We managed to vote him out in 2020, but he continues to wreak havoc on the body politic of this nation. Now, with Trump’s multiple criminal trials, we are in a race between eking out a rescue of the Republic and its utter annihilation. There’s not a whole lot we can do to affect the outcome of the trials—the justice system will determine that one way or another—but 2024 is another election year, and we must make sure that Democrats are once again in control of both Houses of Congress as well as the White House. We need to work our asses off to assure this outcome, or we may never have another free and fair election in this country again. Historically, when a nation loses its democracy, the only way to get it back again involves a great deal of struggle and bloodshed. I’d prefer to avoid that.
Enough with the pontification! Let’s have some music! These songs are either from the remnant of British pagan tradition, or more newly composed songs about seasons and transformations. Happy Solstice!
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Top Comments (December 20-21, 2023):
From peregrine kate:
Hello everyone! Happy Solstice! There are several solid comments in Examined’s outstanding post on the return of COVID, but this one by 4Katydid stands out in my estimation.
Highlighted by environmentalist:
This comment (regarding Rudy) by KPDownes in kos’ ICYMI post tonight.
Top Mojo (December 19, 2023):
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