Solstice Greetings

[Geof Nanto]

Solstice greetings to all my fellow Dao Bum travellers from both hemispheres and all realms.  Here in Southern hemisphere summer solstice was officially at 3:28 am this Friday morning. (It’s 7:30 am as I write.) Yang has peaked, now wanes; yin grows. And, of course, the opposite for the majority of Bums who live in the northern hemisphere. And so the seasons continue to revolve. In the words of Bashō, “Days and months are travellers of eternity. So are the years that pass by.” 

 

There was a summer thunderstorm here yesterday evening. The dragons were flexing their muscles. Wild winds, torrential rain; about 100mm (4 inches) fell in just one hour.  There’s plenty of fallen branches around my cabin, some trees down on the edge of the forest. I’m about to head out and start the clean-up.  I’ll probably be at it, a bit at a time, for the next few weeks. I’ll wander further afield too into the surrounding forest checking out the carnage.  Hopefully not too much damage within. It's the edges of the forest that take the brunt of the storm, and solitary trees cop it too. I’m most always surprised by the ones that succumb though. It’s rarely those I’ve noticed with obvious defects. (Just like with people.)

 

[Pavel Karavaev]

Thanks for the greeting, the winter solstice is an important milestone in winter time.

Here (at the north) the Yin has reached its peak and now yang will grow, and get everything closer to the end of winter rom day to day. 
There is around 100 mm of snow lie down over the past 2 days and now everything is white.

 

[Pavel Karavaev]

In my country, the winter solstice is not celebrated widely. In truth, people who live in big cities do not remember this day at all.
I do not know how things stand in other Western countries. However, in China this is one of the main holidays - Dongzhi Festival.

 

Quote

 

Traditionally, the Dongzhi Festival is also a time for the family to get together. One activity that occurs during these get-togethers (especially in the southern parts of China and in Chinese communities overseas) is the making and eating of tangyuan (湯圓) or balls of glutinous rice, which symbolize reunion. Tangyuan are made of glutinous rice flour and sometimes brightly coloured. Each family member receives at least one large tangyuan in addition to several small ones. The flour balls are occasionally pink or green. They are cooked in a sweet soup or savory broth with both the ball and the soup/broth served in one bowl. It is also often served with a mildly alcoholic unfiltered rice wine containing whole grains of glutinous rice (and often also Sweet Osmanthus flowers), called jiuniang.

In northern China, people typically eat dumplings on Dongzhi. It is said to have originated from Zhang Zhongjing in the Han Dynasty. On one cold winter day, he saw the poor suffering from chilblains on their ears. Feeling sympathetic, he ordered his apprentices to make dumplings with lamb and other ingredients, and distribute them among the poor to keep them warm, to keep their ears from getting chilblains. Since the dumplings were shaped like ears, Zhang named the dish "qùhán jiāoěr tāng" (祛寒嬌耳湯) or dumpling soup that expels the cold. From that time on, it has been a tradition to eat dumplings on the day of Dongzhi.

Old traditions also require people with the same surname or from the same clan to gather at their ancestral temples to worship on this day. There is always a grand reunion dinner following the sacrificial ceremony.

The festive food is also a reminder that celebrators are now a year older and should behave better in the coming year. Even today, many Chinese around the world, especially the elderly, still insist that one is "a year older" right after the Dongzhi celebration instead of waiting for the lunar new year.

 

 

(Originally from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongzhi_Festival )

[Taomeow]

2 minutes ago, Pavel Karavaev said:

In my country, the winter solstice is not celebrated widely. In truth, people who live in big cities do not remember this day at all.
I do not know how things stand in other Western countries.

 

About the same, although some wiccans, staunch old hippies, and perhaps a few other groups do celebrate it.  Some taoists. 

 

By the way, I'm a bit worried about the qi of this particular solstice.  Yesterday was a day from hell technology wise and cost me $200 in sheer aggravations (kitchen sink suddenly clogged and needed professional snaking, then my router died for no discernible reason.)  My son, who runs a music/media company, came home with similar complaints -- a day of techno disasters.  Anyone noticed anything similar?..    

[Pavel Karavaev]

6 minutes ago, Taomeow said:

Anyone noticed anything similar?.. 

I do not. Actually i  did not  even see the sun - the Sky was 100% cloudy  

 

 

Edited December 22, 2017 by Pavel Karavaev

[Taomeow]

Forgot to mention that aggravations didn't end there, pretty much nothing was going as planned.  I was making some pork chops for dinner and close to the end splashed the skillet with calvados, something I always do to pick up the caramelized goodies from the bottom toward a pretty and tasty glaze on the chops, but this time, all of a sudden, a huge fireball formed around the skillet, which I was almost startled into dropping -- I threw it back on the stove and hit the fireball with a kitchen towel, which mercifully worked, but not before I got yelled at, and scared my cat out of his wits.  And myself too.  

[liminal_luke]

No technological malfunctions but I am feeling a little bit more ba humbug for this time of year than usual -- which is saying something. 

[Pavel Karavaev]

26 minutes ago, Taomeow said:

...all of a sudden, a huge fireball formed around the skillet, which I was almost startled into dropping -- I threw it back on the stove and hit the fireball with a kitchen towel...

 

I hope this accident did not damage your dish 

 

Well, anyway You spent the day of the solstice much more vividly than I do (in every sense).
And I did not have any technical misfortunes, no fireballs, no pork chops, not even the sun - complete correspondence with with the peak of Yin. 

Edited December 22, 2017 by Pavel Karavaev

[zerostao]

Don't know if it's Saturn or what but I've been slacking, even by my standards, for the past two weeks. Looking forward to the new year.

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