Minnesotastan put this graph with his town's historical average high and low temperatures on his refrigerator to remind the family that they will get better, as they always do. The arrows are moved along every week.
It doesn't surprise me that the earliest humans recorded winter solstices, that they monitored the sun's positions, that religious festivals were created to celebrate rebirth from apparent death. There's an immense satisfaction in telling oneself that one has made it through the most difficult time, and that things are now going to get better.
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