The Winter Solstice
Today (21st December) is a very important date in the astronomy calendar; it is the winter solstice or the shortest day of the year.
The reason that the earth has seasons is because it is not standing straight up but instead is tilted over by about 23½ º. As the earth orbits around the sun during the summer months the northern hemisphere is pointed towards the sun and we receive more of the sun’s rays and get hot, long days and short nights. Then six months later the northern hemisphere is pointed away from the sun and then we have long nights and short days and of course it is colder.
The most extreme point during summer usually occurs on June 21st or 22nd and the most extreme point during winter is on either 21st or 22nd December. At this point the North Pole of the earth is tilted as far away from the sun as it can be and so we have the shortest day of the year. A line drawn around the north of the earth called the Arctic circle represents the extremes of the sun’s range. On this day the sun will not rise above the Arctic Circle and vice versa – the sun will not set at any point in the southern hemisphere beyond the Antarctic circle.
Another line drawn around the earth called the tropic of Capricorn marks the position that the Sun will be directly overhead tomorrow, the winter solstice. While a line called the tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere marks the point where the sun will be overhead on June 21st, the summer solstice.
Half way between these two dates are the equinoxes, these are days of equal day and night when the earth is standing straight up on its end, as viewed from the sun. The spring equinox occurs on March 21st and the autumn equinox is on September 21st. On the equinoxes it doesn’t matter where you stand, be it from the North Pole to the South Pole you will receive 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness.
These dates have been celebrated for thousands of years by cultures all around the world. It is believed that Stonehenge in England was built to mark the summer and winter solstices and even today the date for Easter is calculated as being the first Sunday that follows the first full moon following the spring equinox.
And many thousands of years ago during Neolithic times the winter solstice used to occur not on 21st December but on 25th December. It was only because of a rearrangement of the calendar when Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian Calendar in 1582 that December 21st /22nd became the winter solstice. And before Jesus Christ was born the winter solstice was always celebrated by almost every cultural society with great ceremonies.
Feasting on slaughtered meats, decorating the house with holly and mistletoe, lighting candles, exchanging of gifts and drinking freshly brewed ales was the norm for ancient pagan societies in ancient Britain.
It was only after the Romans invaded and tried to stamp out all pagan rituals and introduce their own Christian beliefs that the celebration of the winter solstice was faded out and replaced by a celebration that we now call Christmas. But if you think about all of the long-held traditions of feasting, holly, mistletoe, drinking and lighting candles and lights none of them refer to the birth of Jesus. They are all pagan rituals handed down through thousands of years by our rebellious ancestors.
In prehistoric times worship of the sun was paramount as it brought life and changes to the earth and since the winter solstice is seen as the reversal of the sun's movements in the sky, then concepts of the birth or rebirth of sun gods have been common. And, in cultures using winter solstice based calendars, the year as being reborn has been celebrated with regard to the birth of their gods and so it was easy to see why the birth of the Messiah was associated with this special day.
So although I too will be opening all my presents on Christmas morning can I ask you to remember our ancestors celebrations and wish you all a Very Merry Solstice!
By Ken Campbell
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