Tomorrow is the winter Solstice. It always happens around December 21 in the Northern hemisphere on the shortest day (or longest night) of the year, and it astronomically marks the middle or beginning of winter. I like to think of it instead as the very start of spring, because oh-so-slowly the days are now getting longer.Around the world, solstice events vary from culture to culture, but most have a recognition of rebirth, involving festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations. Many people throughout history celebrated a holiday near the winter solstice.
Early Christians, however, did not celebrate Christmas on December 25th, or any other day. There was disagreement about when Jesus was born, and some opposed celebrating his birthday. In the fourth century, Christmas was added to the church calendar as a feast day. Some scholars suspect that Christians choose to celebrate Christ's birthday on December 25th to make it easier to convert pagan tribes. Gradually, Christmas began to adopt more of the joyful and boisterous traditions of pagan cultures. The Christmas traditions we love now (such as trees and cards) are largely a Victorian invention, but that's another story. A pretty blog I follow called "Celtic Lady" did a post on this subject, if you're interested:Getting back to the winter solstice. It may have been immensely important once because communities were not assured to live through the winter. Mass starvation (definitely NOT a problem around this house at Christmas!) was once common in winter. In some cultures, the midwinter festival was the last feast before deep winter began. Cattle were slaughtered so they would not have to be fed during the winter, so this was the only time of year when a supply of fresh meat was available. The majority of wine and beer made during the year was finally fermented and ready for drinking. Beef and brew...sounds good to me. Tomorrow we turn the corner once again to spring.
No comments:
Post a Comment