Merry Christmas! Winter Solstice.

I was just thinking to myself and was wondering what my response would be if someone asked me whether or not I celebrate Christmas. I’m not religious but to be honest, I do celebrate Christmas. The same Christmas as in Christianity? Possibly.

The sun reaches its lowest point in the sky on the 22nd of December (Winter Solstice). There is then a 3 day transitional period (shortest days of the year) until the sun begins to rise again up until the summer equinox.

In a sense, dec 25th is the 'new year'. The year begins as the sun resumes its journey across the sky.

So yes I do celebrate this period. Call it Christmas if you will! I personally believe that most religions are based on astrology and cosmology so for me, yes we are celebrating the same Christmas.

Winter Solstice The winter solstice is the time at which the sun appears at noon at its lowest altitude above the horizon. Interpretation of the event has varied from culture to culture, but many cultures have held a recognition of rebirth, involving holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations around that time.

This leads me to a question. Why does the New Year begin of the 25th of December instead of the 1st of January? Wouldn’t it be logical to have the new year (1st Jan) on the day when the sun begins to rise again (dec 25th). Why does the New Year begin 7 days later? I know it’s farfetched but in biblical terms, would it be because god created earth in 7 days?

reply to post by toocoolnc


What lovely ideas! However, I think you might know more about Saturnalia, Yuletide, and the winter solstice than you realize. What we have here is a convention; that is, an agreement within our culture that we will celebrate at this time. Considering that we float between local, national, and global cultures, yet mostly manage not to argue about it, is to our credit. I am sure others here will add more specifics about the date and history, but I feel the thoughts you raise are more important than those details.


Thank you,

Orion

Starting seven days later is good for consumerism. You can't have two holidays closer than five days apart. People need to recover so they can spend more.

reply to post by toocoolnc


There are no "three kings" in the Gospel accounts of Jesus birth (which are given in Matthew and Luke).

In Matthew, there are "Magi from the East." Magi were famous astrologers, not kings. And the only indication is that they are plural in number. Whether they were 2 people, or 75 is not related.

The "three kings" came from medieval passion plays, where the Magi were used to represent foreigners acknowledging the Jewish messiah. Since the Medieval mind believed in 3 races of man (black white and yellow) the Magi were stand-ins for the gentile nations, and came to be played as 3 kings. I don't think the Anglo-Frankish Catholics were thinking about Orion that much.

The sun was in capricorn (December/January), opposite side of the sky; where I believe the start of Orion's belt would point to Taurus (May)

There are other more potent astronomical symbolisms at Christmas.


Just saying.

reply to post by toocoolnc


It's all very subjectively objective... er... wa?

ja. I see this all the time. I'm a friendly, crazy mofo, so don't take this the wrong way.
You seem to be forgetting about the Southern Hemisphere - Christmas actually makes no sense down here... it's just nonsense, although very popular; religion and commercialism made sure that it is celebrated.

I love how the seasons are in such a balance...
While you guys enter into the cold and your shortest day,
we enter into warmth and the longest day.

I said this on another thread recently, but I'll reiterate it here and add a bit more:
Christmas makes no sense here, neither does Easter or many other holidays, obviously particularly seasonal based ones.
Our shortest day in the Southern Hemisphere is around the 21 June... so, shouldn't we celebrate a traditionally celebrated winter event at that date?
Sure, we (well, Christians, etc) could celebrate Christs birth on 25 December, but even that leaves much to be disputed. (I'm sure I remember reading that Jesus probably would've been born in Northern Hemisphere Spring. I dunno )

Personally, I wish that we would celebrate our respective seasons as they should be.
For example if you observe the pagan festivals, and I'll pick the easy ones, in the North, Yule is in December, Midsummer is in June, in the South, Yule is in June and Midsummer is in December.

I wear my Father Christmas hat in June and people look at me funny. But it does keep my head warm - too hot in December to do so, go figure