Santa Rides In The Dark Of Night

Did ya ever wonder why Christmas comes on December 25th every year? And did ya ever wonder why Thanksgiving is the 4th Thursday in November? I never gave it much thought before yesterday; then I was pondering the fact that the Winter Solstice occurs right around the 21st of December each year. And for 2008 it actually occurs today (December 21) around noon.

What's the Winter Solstice? Without getting technical (which is actually beyond me), it's the time of the year here in the Big Town of Savage when the daylight hours are the shortest. Let's say that again, "it's the time of the year here in the Big Town of Savage when the daylight hours are the shortest." Basically, for most of us, it feels like it's dark all day!!! And if it's an overcast day with the winter sun so low on horizon, it actually is an extremely dark and dark-feeling day...bummer!!!

Extended periods of darkness can lead to sadness in many folks. It can also lead to SADness; extreme depression. So if December 21st is the depth of SADness, what better time to have Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years than leading up to and during the depths of the SADness season.

I figure that subconsciously our forefathers determined they needed to do some things to perk folks up and get 'em through the long days of darkness without 'em getting too depressed; hence the Holiday schedule we enjoy today.

Following the Winter Solstice the daylight hours begin to lengthen each day and when the coldest period of winter arrives around the beginning of February, we're already 6 weeks into days with longer daylight hours and we know that spring is on the way. Man that's a lot of cheer for the coldest days of winter and personally, I love it.

So basically, I figger ol' Santa Claus is grateful to the calendar makers for scheduling the Christmas deal right after the Winter Solstice. That way, he has much more time in the darkness to do his yearly thing and spread cheer all over the world; thus perking up folks who might otherwise suffer from SADness.

JD

PS - The more I analyze this situation, the more I think I hit the nail on the head with this observation. It's amazing what folks do subconsciously. We never quite know why we do the things we do, but subconsciously we always have what to us is some exceptional rationale for our decisions and actions!!!