Light over darkness
Some of the nastiest wars in human history could have been avoided if we were more informed. Certainly, knowing more about how and why Christmas came to be celebrated in different religions should make us more tolerant of other beliefs. Although these beliefs may be different from religion to religion, they spring from ancient rites that had to do with a non-religious fact: the position of the earth in relation to the sun.
It is at this time of the year when the earth tilts slightly, leaning slightly on its axis about 23 degrees and 27 minutes off the perpendicular to the plane of orbit. The tilt has also come to be known as the winter solstice and literally means “standing still sun”. But to our ancestors, it must have been frightening to see the days getting shorter and shorter in the cold winter month of December. Yesterday, the 21st of December had the shortest daylight.
Many cultures the world over perform solstice ceremonies. At their root was the ancient fear that the failing light would never return unless humans intervened with anxious vigil or celebration. No one’s really sure how the winter solstice began to be understood. It was simply the turning point which marked the return of the sun. According to a book published in 1948, the Mesopotamians (the ancient Iraqis) were the first to celebrate a 12-day festival of renewal to help the god Marduk tame the monsters of chaos for one more year.
Others would put it earlier, maybe as far back as 10,000 years ago with the Neolithic peoples since they were thought of as the first farmers and would have watched how the changing climate affected their produce. One evidence found showed ancient peoples may have marked the cycles of the moon by notches carved into bone. What is true is that different cultures all over the world perform solstice ceremonies. It was a kind of appeasement to whatever rules the world to return the failing light. In time the rituals evolved and became part of a system of beliefs.
The winter solstice was overlaid with the Christian story of Christmas, to convert pagan peoples and the celebration spread throughout the world. Unfortunately the deep connection of our celebrations to a fundamental seasonal, hemispheric event was lost in the overlaid story of a religion. Other solstice celebrations can be found in
It is also part of the cultural heritage of
Then there is the Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights also around this time of the year. Hanukkah is tied to both the lunar and solar calendars and begins on the 25th of Kislev, three days before the new moon closest to the Winter Solstice. It commemorates the Maccabees’ victory over the Greeks and the rededication of the temple at
When we celebrate Christmas today, it is good to remember the ancient roots linked to the movement of the sun as well as the moon and its universality. These were celebrated with fertility rites, with fire festivals, with offerings and prayers to their gods and goddesses. These were the roots of our own modern day celebrations —lighting of candles, feasting, decorating with evergreens and exchanging gifts. By latching celebrations to a scientific fact, we would be more tolerant for different reasons for celebration.
We might take heart with what Earl W. Count wrote in his book, Four
Thousand Years of Christmas: “Shall we liken Christmas to the web in a loom? There are many weavers, who work into the pattern the experience of their lives. When one generation goes, another comes to take up the weft where it has been dropped. The pattern changes as the mind changes, yet never begins quite anew. At first, we are not sure that we discern the pattern, but at last we see that, unknown to the weavers themselves, something has taken shape before our eyes, and that they have made something very beautiful, something which compels our understanding.”
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