In Ancient Rome, the Winter Solstice festival referred to as Saturnalia began on December 17 and lasted for seven days. In addition to the traditions from western cultures, the Dongzhi Winter Solstice Festival is celebrated as a time for the entire family to get together to celebrate the past good year. As ancient Chinese thought, the yang, or muscular, positive things will become stronger and stronger after this day, so it should be celebrated. The present-day custom of lighting a Yule log at Christmas is believed to have originated with these fires associated with the Feast of Juul. French peasants would place the cooled ashes from the log under their beds, believing they would protect the house against thunder and lightning. The ashes were then collected and spread into the fields as fertilizer every night until Twelfth Night, or worn around the neck as a charm. In England, Germany, France, and other European countries, the Yule log was burned until nothing but ash remained. The log, which was never allowed to burn entirely, was kept as both a token of good luck against misfortune and used as kindling for the following year’s log. It was Thor’s job to bring the Sun’s warmth back to the people. A Yule-or Juul-log was brought in and burned on the hearth in honor of the Scandinavian god, Thor. This was a festival observed in Scandinavia when fires were lit to symbolize the heat, light and life-giving properties of the returning Sun. When the Sun rises, the chamber is flooded with sunlight on the Winter Solstice. What Stonehenge is for Alban Hefin (The Druid festival for The Summer Solstice), Newgrange is for Alban Arthan. The site consists of a large circular mound with a stone passageway and interior chambers. (making it older than Stonehenge), is associated with the Alban Arthan festival. The prehistoric monument, Newgrange built in Ireland around 3200 B.C. The birth of the New Sun is thought to revive the Earth’s aura in mystical ways, giving a new lease on life to spirits and souls of the dead. It marks the moment in time when the Old Sun dies (at dusk on the 21st of December) and when the Sun of the New Year is born (at dawn on the 22nd of December), framing the longest night of the year.
In Druidic traditions, the Winter Solstice is thought of as a time of death and rebirth when Nature’s powers and our own souls are renewed. Welsh for “Light of Winter,” Alban Arthan is a universal festival, which has been (and still is) celebrated by many people and is probably the oldest seasonal festival of humankind. The Sun’s gradual decrease in the sky reverses upon the winter solstice, marking what many cultures believe to be a “rebirth” of the Sun as the hours of daylight become longer. So what does that mean, exactly? Upon the winter solstice, the Sun appears at its lowest in the sky, and its noontime elevation seems to stay the same for several days before and after this day. The term “solstice” comes from the Latin words sol (Sun) and sistere (to stand still) because, during the solstice, the angle between the Sun’s rays and the plane of the Earth’s equator (called declination) appears to stand still. What’s in store for winter weather? Read our extended forecast! What Does “Solstice” Mean? Regardless of what the weather is doing outside your window, the solstice marks the official start of winter. It’s the astronomical moment when the Sun reaches the Tropic of Capricorn, we have our shortest day and longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere in terms of daylight.
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