From The Writer's Almanac
In the northern hemisphere, today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year and the longest night. It's officially the first day of winter and one of the oldest known holidays in human history. Anthropologists believe that solstice celebrations go back at least 30,000 years, before humans even began farming on a large scale. Many of the most ancient stone structures made by human beings were designed to pinpoint the precise date of the solstice. The stone circles of Stonehenge were arranged to receive the first rays of midwinter sun.
Ancient peoples believed that because daylight was waning, it might go away forever, so they lit huge bonfire to tempt the sun to come back. The tradition of decorating our houses and our trees with lights at this time of year is passed down from those ancient bonfires.
In ancient Egypt and Syria, people celebrated the winter solstice as the sun's birthday. In Ancient Rome, the winter solstice was celebrated with the festival of Saturnalia, during which all business transactions and even war were suspended, and slaves were waited upon by their masters.
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One of my favorite poems:
Winter Poem
once a snowflake fell
on my brow and i loved
it so much and i kissed
it and it was happy and called its cousins
and brothers and a web
of snow engulfed me then
i reached to love them all
and i squeezed them and they became
a spring rain and i stood perfectly
still and was a flower
3 comments:
Love and transformation, eternal themes and potent stuff, whether it's Sol Invictus or snow and flowers.
http://journals.aol.com./sistercdr/Sortingthepieces
What a sweet poem on this darkest of nights. The earth is about to turn to the light again. And that is something to celebrate. Yet it still must pass through winter, through the months of January and February. When it is cold and damp, and still dark. I think Eliot got it wrong - February is the cruelest month for me. I shall cherish this solstice time, for facing me is the hardest time of the year for me personally. And in my work, it is the time I call the armpit of the year.
But enough of that, NOW is the time to celebrate the Saturnalia!
Love, Vicky
http://www.livejournal.com/~vxv789/
I love it.
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