Winter Solstice

Winter solstice for 2005 will occur at 1:35 pm EST on December 21.

Because of the Earth’s tilt on its axis half the time, the North Pole points toward the sun and half the time it points away. When it points toward the sun, we in the Northern Hemisphere have our Spring and Summer. When it points away, we have our Fall and Winter. (In the Southern Hemisphere, the seasons are reversed.)

The winter solstice marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year. The sun appears at its lowest point in the sky, and its noontime elevation appears to be the same for several days before and after the solstice. Hence the origin of the word solstice, which comes from Latin solstitium, from sol, "sun" and -stitium, "a stoppage." Following the winter solstice, the days begin to grow longer and the nights shorter.

(From Infoplease)

Man has celebrated some form of winter festival for thousands of years. Most early celebrants were looking for one thing: they wanted the sun back. Being hunter/gatherers pickings became slim when winter took hold. Fruits, berries and many game species were no longer available. Things didn’t improve when agriculture developed. Winter meant living off your stored foodstuffs. The loss of daylight hours did not go unnoticed.

Many, many cultures the world over perform solstice ceremonies. At their root: an ancient fear that the failing light would never return unless humans intervened with anxious vigil or antic celebration.

(From Candlegrove)

With the development of civilization came the creation of gods and religion. Many, many gods and religions. All of which recognized the importance of the Winter Solstice. The rebirth of the sun as it first stop disappearing and then started to reappear soon became the symbolic celebration of the birth of various god-man-heroes. It was the Romans who consolidated many of the celebrations and encouraged the celebrations to take place on one day. (Probably so all of the religious holidays didn’t interfere with business.)

Emperor Aurelian (270 to 275 AD) blended a number of Pagan solstice celebrations of the nativity of such god-men/saviors as Appolo, Attis, Baal, Dionysus, Helios, Hercules, Horus, Mithra, Osiris, Perseus, and Theseus into a single festival called the "Birthday of the Unconquered Sun" on DEC-25. At the time, Mithraism and Christianity were fierce competitors. Aurelian had even declared Mithraism the official religion of the Roman Empire in 274 AD. Christianity won out by becoming the new official religion in the 4th century AD.

Aurelian backed the wrong horse in that race but his selection of December 25 for the “Birthday of the Unconquered Sun” eventually gave us our Christmas. No one else seemed to know exactly when it should be celebrated.

CHRISTIANITY: Any record of the date of birth of Yeshua of Nazareth (later known as Jesus Christ) has been lost. There is sufficient evidence in the Gospels to indicate that Yeshua was born in the fall, but this seems to have been unknown to early Christians. By the beginning of the 4th century AD, there was intense interest in choosing a day to celebrate Yeshua's birthday. The western church leaders selected DEC-25 because this was already the date recognized throughout the Roman Empire as the birthday of various Pagan gods.

DRUIDISM: Druids and Druidesses formed the professional class in ancient Celtic society. They performed the functions of modern day priests, teachers, ambassadors, astronomers, genealogists, philosophers, musicians, theologians, scientists, poets and judges. Druids led all public rituals, which were normally held within fenced groves of sacred trees. The solstice is the time of the death of the old sun and the birth of the dark-half of the year. … The three days before Yule is a magical time. This is the time of the Serpent Days or transformation...The Elder and Birch stand at the entrance to Annwn or Celtic underworld where all life was formed. Like several other myths they guard the entrance to the underworld. This is the time the Sun God journey's thru the underworld to learn the secrets of death and life. And bring out those souls to be reincarnated."

(From Religious Tolerance.org)

Burning the Yule Log
The term Yule stems from the Anglo-Saxon "yula" or "wheel" of the year. In ancient pagan ritual, the Yule Log was lit on the eve of Winter Solstice and burned for twelve hours. Later, the Log was replaced by the Yule Tree, but instead of being burned, it was adorned with burning candles.