Santa's Solstice

Santa Claus and his elves live in a weird part of the world. The North Pole! So, like everyone else who lives far enough north, such as areas in Alaska, northern Canada, Scandinavia, and Russia, they experience several days of 24-hour daylight in June around the Summer Solstice and 24-hour darkness in December around the Winter Solstice. Therefore, since the Winter Solstice is December 21, that means the many days before Christmas, Santa and his elves are surrounded by total darkness. I mentioned this in last year's Advent Calendar, I believe!

When you think about it, that's really kind of sad. This is the main man of Christmas (well, besides Jesus of course), and he and his elves are surrounded by darkness while they're prepping the sleigh and reindeer and making lots of cool toys. Not to mention temperatures that would give an ice cube hypothermia.

Light has a suspected biological effect on people and perhaps other animals. During these dark days, they say people in Russia and other far north areas get depressed easily, and that there may be a biological reason there. Some of them even wear little light hats to combat this.

One can imagine, though, that Santa Claus must use his own saintly magic to keep his elves and reindeer cheerful during this sunless time. You might also think he should live in Antarctica, where it would be light 24-hours for the days around Christmas! Get some penguins to help him out. Wouldn't that be cute? But, no, Santa Claus lives at the North Pole, so December solstice darkness is what he gets. What would be the drive, though? Isn't it possible that giving presents to people for Christmas all over the world and making them happy could be how he combats darkness depression? Makes sense. I'm sure he likes making people happy and peaceful. I mean, he's a saint, isn't he?

So, whether you live in tundra or rainforest, savannah or steppe, desert or mountain, forest or plains, Merry Christmas! And give a little thought to the being who's stuck living in an ice cap who makes you happy each time this day rolls around. Plane of the ecliptic sure can be cruel.