Winter solstice comes but once a year and with it comes the Renaissance Mathematicus New Year

As I have explained over the years, being a historian of astronomy, for me, the year does not end and restart on the very arbitrary 31 December/1 January, but, in the Northern Hemisphere, with the Winter Solstice, when the Sun reaches the furthest point on its journey southwards, turns, and begins the slow climb towards the north and the summer solstice. 

Obligatory Stonehenge winter solstice image

I wish all of my readers a happy solstice and may you enjoy whatever seasonal events you participate in. I personally don’t celebrate any of them. I thank all of you for your engagement, for reading my verbal outpourings, for your comments and your criticisms and hope you will continue to do so in the year to come. 

There will be no normal blog post on Wednesday, because on Saturday we start with another established tradition, the Renaissance Mathematicus Christmas Trilogy. For any new readers, who have found there way here in the last twelve months, they can find out what this is here and at the same time catch up on twelve years of previous trilogies!