How is the winter solstice celebrated?
Winter solstice is an important time for cultures across the globe. Under the old Julian Calendar, the winter solstice occurred on 25 December. With the introduction of the Gregorian calendar the solstice slipped to the 21st, but the Christian celebration of Jesus’s birth continued to be held on 25 December. Here are some of the festivals celebrated internationally, past and present:
Yule (Neopagan)
The pre-Christian festival, the Feast of Juul, was observed in Scandinavia at the time of the December solstice. Fires would be lit to symbolise the heat and light of the returning Sun and a Yule log was gathered and burnt in the hearth as a tribute to the Norse god Thor.
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Present-day Christmas customs and traditions such as the Yule log, Yule boar, Yule singing, and others stem from pagan Juul. Today the event is celebrated in some forms of Modern Paganism.
Saturnalia (Ancient Rome)
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In Ancient Rome, the festival of Saturnalia began on 17 December and lasted for seven days. As the name suggests, the festival was celebrated in honour of Saturn, the father of the gods, the same deity after which the sixth planet in our solar system is named.
People would make sacrifices at the Temple of Saturn before banqueting and giving gifts. The usual law and order would be suspended, schools and businesses would close, and quarrels would be forgotten.
Dongzhi Festival (Asia)
In China and East Asia, the Dongzhi Festival is one of the most important times of the year. It celebrates the return of longer daylight hours and ultimately an increase of positive energy. The festival’s origins can be traced back to the yin and yang philosophy of balance and harmony.
During this time for getting together, families in southern China often make and eat tangyuan: balls of glutinous rice, occasionally brightly coloured, cooked in a sweet or savoury broth.
Yalda (Iran)
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Shab-e Yalda ‘Yalda night’ or Shab-e Chelleh ‘night of forty’ is an Iranian festival celebrated on the ‘longest and darkest night of the year’. Friends and family get together to eat, drink and read poetry until the early hours. Pomegranates and watermelons are particularly significant.
The winter solstice at Stonehenge
Today, people from the UK and beyond visit the ancient site of Stonehenge to celebrate the winter and summer solstices.
One reason why this is a popular site to visit is that you can glimpse the Sun’s rays through the stones which are lined up with the path of the Sun. Most people arrive late on the night of the solstice to catch the sunrise.
While both solstices are celebrated by modern day religions and tourists alike, the ancient civilisation that first built the monument most likely did so primarily for the winter solstice, perhaps to request a good growing season in the year to come. The main features of the Stonehenge site date from the centuries around 3500 BC.
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