8 Comments

  1. I’ve received three private emails suggesting the celebration of the Solstice is some sort of Pagan (in one instance) and New Agey-Hippey (in two other cases) celebration. That promoting the winter solstice makes me look silly.

    I’ve got two things to say.

    The first is that almost any reason to celebrate with good cheer and without hurting anyone else is fantastic and something the world could use more of. In this regard, I am happy to join the historical — prehistoric really — folks that celebrated the winter equinox.

    The second is that without much debate and in all earnest, the celebrations of the solstice dating back eons were the precursor to every major religious holiday — Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Saturnalia, Festivus, Coynemas, et al — and so by rights of first the winter solstice comes way before Christmas, to give an example. And no, Jesus Christ was not born on December 25 so stop it. December 25 was the day of the SOLSTICE in the Julian Calendar, which was used by the Roman Empire, and marked the Saturnalia celebrations. The early Christian church piggy-backed and appropriated Saturnalia as the birth of Christ to more easily convince everyone to move the party for Saturnalia to Christ. That’s the truth of the matter.

    You want to celebrate Christ. Go right ahead. But the celebrations of the winter solstice, coinciding with the astronomical phenomenon of the winter equinox, precede Christ by many thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of years.

    Carl Kruse

  2. Here’s another vote saying to call it as it is Kruse. I enjoyed reading the quickie historical review of the solstice and how various celebrations sprung from it. Here’s wishing you a great 2016.

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