No Winter Solstice ever passes but that I find myself imagining what must have been the experience of that first person who recognized that there is regularity in the cosmos.
What triggered the insight? What set of circumstances caused the caveman Poogah to realize that the stars were aligned just like now when the days were last cold just like now and the game had moved south just like now? How staggering it must have been to realize that he lived in the middle of a giant clock.
How long did he wait to speak of it? Did he watch carefully for two or three years before telling the rest of his tribe what he had recognized, in order to be certain, or did he share that insight at once? And what words did he use, when the words had never before been needed to explain a thought that nobody had ever had?
Did the local Holy Man, with responsibility for teasing blessings from a random and hostile universe, condemn him for impiety?
Whatever happened, it must be counted one of the great moments of human history, for afterward the world became predictable and perhaps manageable. There are ancient observatories all over the earth, and always it can be seen that the stones were arranged to point toward the rising sun on this day of least daylight, signifying that on the morrow the day would be longer and soon the game would return and the fields would freshen. We know our ancient forebears attached great importance to the day, because the work of building the observatories was huge and construction of the observatories would have required years.
Thus were science and engineering born.
Nowadays, of course, it hardly matters. The passing of the seasons has nothing to do with whether or not there will be food to eat, and the greatest part of mankind will probably not pause to remark the solstice at all or even, if only vaguely, wonder why there are so many religious observances at just about the same time the seasons change. Indeed, some people are so ignorant that they are offended by the idea that their Holy Day has pagan origins.
Meantime, the great clock ticks on.