This is my first Winter Solstice in England.
I’m in rural East Anglia and it is dark. Very dark. No ambient metropolitan lights on the horizon, no nearby interstate highway streetlights illuminating the concrete and asphalt with electric glow.
Even during the short spans of daylight, it is overcast. When the sun does make an appearance it is always just skirting the horizon giving off a weak light, as if it were fading twilight.
In comparison to America, England is ancient and you can almost feel the gravity of the years that have gone by since these grounds were first ploughed over and cultivated.
You can see the echoes of the pre-Christian paganism. Before Christianity, the people here celebrated Yule to drive out the darkness and the evil spirits that hid in it and the bad luck they may bring in the new year. The Yule Log was intended to be over the entire solstice period, twelve days over which the sun was believed to have stood still and winter-defying evergreen plants were used in decorations: Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe hung over doorways and wreaths placed on doors to bring good luck to all that passed.
These are the darkest days of the year, but there is hope because the darkness now begins to give way to light and slowly the days get longer and the nights shorter until soon, the light overtakes the dark and the darkness is in retreat.