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Monday 20 December 2010

Sending you love and a sprinkling of faerie dust this Festive Season...

Happy Solstice!







From ma soeur, Her Wiki-ness: The term solstice can also be used in a wider sense, as the date (day) that such a passage happens. The solstices, together with the equinoxes, are connected with the seasons. In some languages they are considered to start or separate the seasons; in others they are considered to be center points (in England, in the Northern hemisphere, for example, the period around the June solstice is known as midsummer, and Midsummer's Day is 24 June, about three days after the solstice itself). Similarly 25 December is the start of the Christmas celebration, and is the day the Sun begins to return to the northern hemisphere.

Many cultures celebrate various combinations of the winter and summer solstices, the equinoxes, and the midpoints between them, leading to various holidays arising around these events. For the December solstice, Christmas is the most popular holiday to have arisen.


In addition, Yalda, Saturnalia, Karachun, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Yule (see winter solstice for more) are also celebrated around this time. For the June solstice, Christian cultures celebrate the feast of St. John from June 23 to June 24 (see St. John's Eve, Ivan Kupala Day, Midsummer), while Neopagans observe Midsummer. For the vernal (spring) equinox, several spring-time festivals are celebrated, such as the observance in Judaism of Passover and in most Christian churches of Easter. The autumnal equinox has also given rise to various holidays, such as the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. At the midpoints between these four solar events, cross-quarter days are celebrated.

5 comments:

Lindsey said...

Have a cool Yule!

Suldog said...

Well, all happiness to you, too!

Dragonfly Dreams said...

May the Soltice bring you happiness, warmth and love!

Moannie said...

May your holiday be warm, happy, filled with love and joy.

Wine and Words said...

How sweet...magical...whimsical, the way Christmas should be.

Something I wrote earlier...

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