Shot in mid-December, 2012, in The Distillery District, Toronto.

Today is labelled the shortest day of the year. But wouldn’t it be way more fun spending these few, fleeting hours of sappy sunlight savouring the anticipation of the longest night of the year? After all, back in the day (I’m talking a couple thousand years ago), the winter solstice was celebrated as the turning point in Earth’s slow, cyclical journey from death to amazing rebirth.

In The Magickal Year, Diana Ferguson writes “If the Earth failed to complete her circular journey through death to renewal, if the Sun failed to return bringing back light and warmth, man was doomed. A very special force was therefore needed to propel the wheel and maintain its perpetual motion….” People held festivals to generate the energy needed to keep the wheel rotating, today being one of the most crucial.

So break out your best bottle of wine tonight and make a toast to the good life. Tomorrow is another (and happily longer) day.