Knowledge from Olle Garden Bed: How Do Gardeners Spend The First Day Of Winter - The Winter Solstice

The winter solstice is the first day of winter and the shortest day of the year. It refers to the exact time when the sun reaches the lowest point in the sky. The word "solsticum" comes from the Latin word "solsticum", which means the moment when the sun is still. The following content also has some reference value for raised garden beds.

The winter solstice is also the origin of many Christmas traditions, including our holiday related plants, such as mistletoe or Christmas trees. This means that the winter solstice has a special meaning for gardeners.

Winter Solstice in the Garden

For thousands of years, the winter solstice has been the longest night of the year, and also the time when the days begin to grow longer. The pagan culture lit a fire and offered gifts to the gods to encourage the return of the sun. The winter solstice is between December 20 and 23, which is very close to our modern Christmas celebrations.

Early cultures celebrated the winter solstice in their gardens by decorating them with various plants. You will recognize some of them because we still use many of them at home during or around Christmas holidays. For example, even ancient civilizations celebrated winter holidays by decorating an evergreen tree.

Winter solstice plant

For gardeners, a cool thing about the winter solstice is how many plants are involved in the celebration.

Holly is considered especially important on the first day of winter, symbolizing the decline of the sun. Druid believed that holly was a sacred plant, because it was evergreen. Even if other trees lost their leaves, the earth became beautiful. This may be why our grandparents decorated the hall with holly branches.

Mistletoe is another plant that celebrates the winter solstice long before the Earth celebrates Christmas. It was also sacred to the Druids and the ancient Greeks, Celts, and Scandinavians. These cultures believe that this plant provides protection and blessing. Some people say that in these ancient civilizations, couples kiss under mistletoe as part of the celebration of the first day of winter.

Winter Solstice Gardening

In most parts of the country, the first day of winter is too cold for many winter solstice gardening. However, many gardeners find indoor gardening rituals useful to them.

For example, one way for gardeners to celebrate the winter solstice is to use that day to order seeds for the garden next spring. This is especially interesting if you get a directory that you can browse in the mail, but you can also browse online. There is no better time to organize and plan for the coming sunny days than in winter.