A Femiral is the production of IHurt Radio.

Tomorrow, December 21st, the Northern Hemisphere will experience the shortest day and longest night of the year.

In our era of electric lights, high-speed travel and commercial day and longest night of the year.

In our era of electric lights, high-speed travel and commercially regulated harvests, it might

as well be a blip on the calendar.

And yet this moment, one far end on the spectrum of natural change hits all of us somewhere

deep, like it has for people dating back to the beginning.

I'm feeling a little thrilled to be talking about it today because I'm not only in the midst as we all are of a seasonal solstice, but also I think we're in a cultural solstice right now where we don't really know what's going to

happen in the same way that the ancients huddled around Stonehenge didn't really quite know whether or not the sun would begin to move again.

I'm Carolyn McEcker-Edwards and we're going to get to talk about a book that I wrote

about 20 years ago called The Return of the Light, 12 tales from around the world for the

winter solstice.

Carolyn is also a lifelong educator.

I imagine that you have spent a lot of time talking to children. That's true.

If you were having a discussion, maybe doing some explanation to a child about the sun and the changing of seasons and that drama, how might that conversation go?

Hmm.

So every year, there's a time at summertime when school is out, when the days are really long, right?

You're playing out in the street till 9 o'clock.

And you don't have to come in because it's getting dark and it's not cold.

In fact, it's hot.

And the sun is there all day long for you to swim and play.

And depending on where you are, it might be really hot and you might have to come in and get in the shade.

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