2001 Quartknee.com warming the winter at Solstice

2001 Event

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05 EVENT INDEX

Winter Solstice

I was going to go to the pagan drumming circle in the park near my flat, but it's been so rainy, windy and cold that it got canceled. I decided to stay in and work on the Site even though it didn't rain and the Sun did make an appearance if only for a short time on the shortest day of the year. I did take time out to connect with Gabriel the hereld of good tidings in the hope that his assistance now will hereld in the rebirth of the light of peace.

Return of the light

Many, many cultures the world over perform solstice ceremonies. At their root: an ancient fear that the failing light would never return unless humans intervened with anxious vigil or antic celebration.

The Mesopotamians celebrated the holiday with a 12-day festival of renewal, designed to help the god Marduk tame the monsters of chaos for one more year.

Remember the light

An utterly astounding array of ancient cultures built their greatest architectures -- tombs, temples, cairns and sacred observatories -- so that they aligned with the solstices and equinoxes. Many of us know that Stonehenge is a perfect marker of both solstices. What is not so well known is the Chumash tribe, who occupied coastal California for thousands of years before the Europeans arrived felt that the Solstices were tremendously important, and their winter solstice celebration lasted several days.

Celtic Symbol for Winter Solstice
Solstice is the official start of winter. This year it's on a Friday and marks the shortest day of the year.

Winter Solstice Knot

The rebirth of the sun.

The birth of the Son.

Christmas was transplanted onto winter solstice some 1,600 years ago, centuries before the English language emerged from its Germanic roots. Is that why we came to express these two ideas in words that sound so similar?