OT: Winter Solstice, Today Options

[Rhodes71/914]

Just wanted everyone to know that today is Winter Solstice, shortest day of the year and the begining of winter. Here is an article from the Portsmouth Herald with additional info if you care to read.

Celebrate with some friends! (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/beerchug.gif)
Winter solstice today evokes ancient rituals

By Karen Dandurant
kdandurant@seacoastonline.com

PORTSMOUTH - Most people know that the winter solstice marks the beginning of winter.

In New England, the 2004 solstice begins today at 7:41 a.m.

University of New Hampshire physics professor Terry Forbes said in the world of science, the solstice officially happens at 12:41 p.m., universal time.

"That’s Greenwich time, the time it would be in London," said Forbes. "The solstice is a measurement of the moment in time when the tilt angle of Earth is most pointed away from the sun. It’s the summer solstice, the opposite, in Australia."

Forbes said most people don’t know exactly what the solstice is, but do know it’s the shortest day of the year.

"We ask people why it’s cold and they think the Earth is farther away from the sun," said Forbes. "Not true; it’s the tilting of the northern hemisphere away from the sun. The angle’s different, that’s why it’s cold."

In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice occurs when the sun shines directly over the tropic of Capricorn; the summer solstice in June is when the sun shines directly over the tropic of Cancer.

The origin of the word solstice comes from Latin solstitium, from sol, "sun" and -stitium, "a stoppage." Following the solstice, the days gradually get longer and the nights shorter.

In pagan cultures, the solstice celebrates the rebirth of the sun to the Earth, and the beginning of winter. Also called Yule, the solstice heralds the coming of light and celebrations that have been surrounding the holiday for thousands of years and are the roots of modern Christmas celebrations.

According to various Web sites, decorating the Christmas tree comes from a pagan celebration of creating a Yule tree.

The Yule tree was often decorated naturally, using herbs, berries and flowers. Candles adorned the tree, representing the light of the sun, about to be reborn. Yule wreaths are hung on the doorway to bless the home.

In the Wiccan religion, the Goddess manifests as the Great Mother and the God as the Sun Child. The God also appears as Santa Claus and Old Man Winter, another custom adopted by Christian religions.

Solstice celebrations can be traced to an ancient fear that the failing light would never return unless humans intervened with anxious vigil, charitable acts or ritual celebration.

It isn’t a stretch to see that the need to hold onto certain traditions today, such as Christmas trees, decorations, family dinners, parties and gifts are echoes of a past that extends back thousands of years.

"I read somewhere that the Christians adopted Christmas, a pagan ritual, because they couldn’t get natives to stop practicing their own ritual," said Forbes.