Today is the shortest day of the year and marks the official beginning of winter. It is the winter solstice.
What is the Winter Solstice? It’s when the Earth’s axis tilts the furthest away from the sun at 23-and-a-half degrees, giving all locations north of the equator less than 12 hours of daylight. The precise time of the Winter Solstice this year is 23:03 Universal Time. For us in the Eastern Standard Time zone, that’s 6:03 p.m.
Many cultures around the world have throughout millennia celebrated the winter solstice as the beginning of the solar year, a celebration of light and the return of the sun. In Europe, winter solstice was celebrated with the pagan holiday of Yule. The Norse marked Yule with feasting and merrymaking. Traditional customs such as the Yule log, the decorated tree, and wassailing can all be traced back to Norse origins. The Celts of the British Isles gathered mistletoe in celebration and Druid priests sacrificed a white bull.
In ancient Rome, winter solstice was the time of a week-long festival in honor of the agricultural god, Saturn. Saturnalia was a time of general merrymaking and debauchery, Roman style — with sacrifices, gift-giving, special privileges for slaves and many feasts.
When a new religion called Christianity began spreading through Europe, it incorporated Pagan symbols and holidays to help convert Pagans, who didn’t want to give up their traditional holidays, to Christianity. Within a few centuries, the Christians everywhere were celebrating the birth of Christ with a new holiday on December 25.
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