WITCHTIP TUESDAY: The Winter Solstice

 

WITCHTIP TUESDAY: The Winter Solstice

Throughout history people have overserved the solstices in some way. I thought that it might be fun to take a look at some of those festivals since the solstice is next week. A lot of modern Christians will get offended by this, but most Christmas traditions have pagan origins. That includes the Christmas tree, the gift giving, the yule log, the caroling, and your Christmas ham. They simple cannot accept that their pagan ancestors didn’t want to give up their celebrations and adapted their new religion to fit those traditions. It’s sad that they deny their heritage, but it is what it is. At any rate, we’re going to look at how far back we have evidence of people recognizing the solstice in this post.

Since Christmas has already been mentioned, let’s start with that. Christmas is celebrated on the 25^th day of December by many western Christian religions. They believe it is the day that Jesus Christ was born. Other Christian religions, such as the Eastern Orthodox Christians, do not agree with this and celebrate their Christmas on January 7^th. Many people believe the difference in dates is due to Roman converts being unwilling to give up the celebration of Saturnalia (we’ll get to that holiday later in the post). The traditions celebrated today are many and varied, but the most common are feasting, gift giving, and spending time with family.

In Japan, the winter solstice is the Japanese New Year. The celebrations there are about bringing good luck in the new year. They encourage the sun to return by building bonfires.

The Zuni tribe of North America also see this as their new year and celebrate with performances by dancers in elaborate costumes.

Celebrating the solstice is by no means a new thing. Solstice celebrations go back thousands of years. Yule was the winter solstice festival celebrated by the Vikings (Norse) and other Germanic peoples. It is believed that the celebration started on the solstice and lasted for 12 days. Revelers would feast, sing, and tell stories. It was also believed that the veil between the living and the dead was thin during this time, and they would pay tribute to their ancestors. Some modern-day pagans have revived the holiday and while some try to celebrate it exactly as their ancestors did, others simply have a meal and exchange gifts. The traditions of the twelve days of Christmas, the yule log, the Christmas ham, and caroling all most likely came Yule traditions.

The festival of Saturnalia was a Roman solstice festival that started on December 17 and lasted until the 23^rd (25^th by the Julien calendar). It was the celebration of Saturn, the God of agriculture. It was believed that Saturn ruled the gods during a golden age of mankind when there was no work and all humans played like children. During this time businesses and government would shut down and people would party like it was the end of the world. They would feast and dance for the entire festival. Even slaves were able to take time off and enjoy themselves. In some cases, the masters would serve the slaves. The people would decorate their homes with the leaves and branches of evergreens and give gifts. It is believed that the traditions of playing, feasting, decorating trees, and giving gifts came from this celebration. Some scholars also think the reason Christmas lands on December 25^th for so many Christians, is because the Romans didn’t want to give up their beloved holiday and so they took it with them when they converted to Christianity.

It is interesting to note that the conjunction between Saturn and Jupiter is taking place on the solstice right in the middle of Saturnalia. For anyone who doesn’t know, the conjunction is when Saturn and Jupiter align so closely in the night sky that they will appear to be a double planet or a single star to the naked eye. The last time humans were able to observe an alignment like this was in 1226 and the next one won’t be until 2080. Astrologers agree that this alignment signifies a period of big changes for everyone, both good and bad. A lot of people are calling this event a Christmas star, but it seems to me that the old Roman gods are outshining everyone else this year.

There are traditions that are even older than these, and there are solstice traditions and celebrations that have been lost to time. Stone monuments from thousands of years ago show us that our ancestors recognized the importance of the winter solstice, but we don’t know how they celebrated it. At the 5000-year-old structure of Stonehenge, we can still watch the sun set on the winter solstice between three of the great stones. At the 5200-year-old passage tomb and monument of Newgrange, the rising sun illuminates the passageway on the winter solstice. The 7000-year-old structure of Nabta Playa was also said to mark the mark the summer and winter solstices before it was moved to a museum. Some researchers believe that the 12,000-year-old structure of Gobekli Tepe, the world’s oldest known stone monument, may have had an astronomical tie to the winter solstice, though the evidence of that is a bit thin. It seems that as mankind transitioned from hunting and gathering to farming the winter solstice became more and more important.

The holidays and traditions associated with the winter solstice all seem to have one thing if common: they are designed to bring hope. The winter solstice marks the longest night of the year, and if there is anything that the ancient people needed during the long cold winter months it is hope. They needed to know that the sun would return, and spring would come. They knew even in ancient times that the day after the winter solstice would be a tiny bit longer and the night shorter. They knew that there were only a few short months until the snows melted and the flowers bloomed. They would have known they could soon plant the crops that would help them survive another year. Knowing this most likely made it easier to survive until spring. Perhaps if we as modern humans concentrated more on the solstice like our ancestors did, we would see less seasonal depression. Maybe if we took note of the lengthening days and shortening nights, we would find it easier to make it until the spring. Maybe we need to concentrate less on the religious beliefs that surround us at this time of the year and concentrate on bringing hope into our lives not through our faith but with what we can see with our own two eyes.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed my extra long post about the solstice and have a wonderful celebration of your own this year. Blessed be.