'Tis the year's midnight

I don't know where you are right now but where I'm at it is cold and raining. The skies are 50 dull shades of battleship grey -it's just a small preview of the winter weather that's ahead. As you can guess I don't like winter weather. About this time every year I suggest to my wife we should sell everything and move to Belize.  

Now one place I'm really glad not to live in is the Italian village of Viganella. Near the Swiss border in the bottom of a steep alpine valley, the village of Viganella stays in the shadow of the mountains from November 11th to February 2nd every year. The original village was founded during the dark ages as a remote safe place to hide from the marauding barbarians that's brought down the Roman Empire.

After World War 2 when the people of Viganella realized that the Goths and Vandals were no longer freely roaming Italy and a modern paved road connect them to Milan, the village went into decline. The idea of 82 or 83 days of winter darkness is hard to imagine, it's something other people would have to travel to either of the poles to experience. In 2006 the village was down to about 200 residents but as ingenious solution was constructed, a 5 by 8 meter mirror to reflect sunlight into Viganella.

The mirror is a heliostat, it moves to follow the sun and constantly reflects daylight into the town square like a spotlight. I guess it also it means that once few steps outside of the village it's dark again. There was a movie made about it in 2009, Lo Specchio (The Mirror). I think I watch it next summer when I'm warm and apathetic about winter.    

Every culture outside of the tropics have a winter or end of the harvest celebration of some kind. Today is Diwali, the festival of lights or actually the first day of the five days of Diwali. Because the holiday is tied to the traditional Luna calendar it could fall on any date from mid-October to mid-November and like Hanukkah it's during the New Moon.

I can't say I know much about the holiday other than a few bits of trivia. Many Indian families will clean their house from top to bottom so that the Goddess Lakshmi will bless them with wealth and good lock. There are usually firecrackers to ward off evil and plenty of sweets and refreshments for guest who are invited over in the sparkling clean homes of their hosts. That sounds pretty good to me.

As a side note tonight in Philadelphia there is  Diwali celebration at the International House at 3701 Chestnut Street, $10 admission, please look it up on-line for details.  

Of course after the Rockwellian holiday of Thanksgiving is Christmas. In our household we have always be very sedate about Christmas trying our best to keep it from being an orgy of gift giving and over the top consumerism. The real start of the Christmas season for us id Saint Lucy's Day.

My friend Frank Wolfe is planning a Saint Lucy's day Party on December 9th. Frank hand makes and sells Angel Greeting cards and at the party he will unveil a new angel for 2012.

 

As an odd bit of coincidence Saint Lucy or Lucia is maybe one of the few things Sicily and Sweden have in common. In the 4th century Lucia lived in Syracuse Sicily and was promised off in an arranged marriage. Lucia wanted no part of that because she had promised to keep her virginity as a sign of her devotion to God. Her husband to be denounced her as a Christian and Lucia was blinded then executed. Back then the Pagans were in charge and they had their fundamentalists to enforce the faith.

The feast day of Saint Lucia spread through out Europe and was particularly popular in the Scandinavian countries, most of all Sweden. Old Norse Pagan traditions were incorporated into the feast day and it was so entrenched into the culture that it's one of the few feast days the Lutheran Church recognizes. It's funny how many times people are willing to change the faith they worship but still hold on tight to the holidays they celebrate. It's one of the reasons why Christians have Christmas in December and have a holiday called Easter instead of Resurrection Day.     

I will leave the the details of any holiday for the purist, the historians and fundamentalists to argue over. The real purpose for me is to mark the passing of time with friends and family -with sweets. Somedays it's the only thing that will get me through until spring.