cember 21, 2010, is the official Winter Solstice - the day when the gradual shortening of days turns into a gradual lengthening of days - until the Summer Solstice in late June.
The official moment when the switch occurs is about 11:30 pm today - well, 11:30 pm in England, so that would be about 5:30 pm here!
The Solstice has had significance to people dating back to early days, as evidenced by ancient structures such as Stonehenge in England which was built in such a way as to allow precise alignment of the sun on Summer and Winter Solstice days, and other significant astronomical events.
The date of December 25th was designated as the official date of Winter Solstice on the first Julian Calendar produced in 45 BC - the Julian Calendar (named for the Emperor Julius Caesar), was still in wide use across the globe until the 20th Century. (Today, the Gregorian Calendar is used -- the difference, and the reason for the change will have to be the subject of a future post!)
This time of year has been important to many people for a long, long time, and is still important today to peoples in Iran (Persian), Guatemala (Mayan), India (Hindu), Ireland (Celtic), Sweden (Norse). East Asian peoples saw this as a time of growing positive energy as the amount of daylight grew. Ancient Japanese custom taught that the Winter Solstice was the time when the Sun Goddess emerged from a cave to return sunlight to the world.
Even the traditional evergreen trees and boughs can be traced to early pagan practices that saw the evergreens as a symbols of eternal life since they did not die like other plants during the winter.
So, as we decorate our homes with trees and gifts, we continue traditions that have been handed down by many peoples for many, many generations!
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