Those who celebrate Winter Solstice/Yule...

I'm curious. Do you celebrate on the solstice, or a few days later, when the days begin to lengthen?
Also, what do you call your celebration/holiday?

I'm just interested. Oh, and I also wanted to say

I think the actual Solstice is at 1:08 AM on Saturday morning Eastern :D

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x7262323#7262344

:hi:

That's one I won't be celebrating. *sigh*

right?

:shrug:

and me also in a quiet way - it was my Grandad's birthday in 1866

Yeah I'm ancient

according to Wikipedia has something to do with the summer solstice

Dunno about today, but it's the winter solstice Dec 21st, the shortest day

Longest night

Happy summer

Google:
"In astronomy, the solstice is either of the two times a year when the Sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator, the great circle on the celestial sphere that is on the same plane as the earth's equator. In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice occurs either December 21 or 22, when the sun shines directly over the tropic of Capricorn; the summer solstice occurs either June 21 or 22, when the sun shines directly over the tropic of Cancer. In the Southern Hemisphere, the winter and summer solstices are reversed."

The days are getting longer!

Happy Solstice!

Maybe this was the Pagan origin of Christmas?

Smart guys in those days - not like now

I'm not ashamed to admit it. The liturgical calendar is not intended to be a replica of actual events. Christmas is not the celebration of the anniversary of Christ's birth. It's a celebration of the way Christ's coming makes us feel--hopeful and filled with light in the midst of our darkness. "The light came into the world and the darkness has not overcome it" as the Gospel of John says. It's how the lengthening days make us feel, too!

Thanks for sharing this, and Happy Solstice to you, too!

:yourock:

:hi:

It's from care2.com. I have their tool bar with all these cool smileys.


Here are a couple others you might like:




I've considered using this:

but I'm afraid I'd get flamed all to hell.

perfect! Thank you.

Solstice greetings to you.

I first saw that in Boston, which isn't much of a college town, really.

and part of January would be a fitting celebration. Must be the Scandahoovian in me. :P

It's always a nice start to the season, I think. Plus there's pastry involved. :)

Me loves some pastry. :)

I call it either Yule, or Solstice. I bless the darkness and welcome back the light in my ritual.

so I just celebrate whenever my family celebrates the holidays. :)

NO MORE SHORT DAYS

NO MORE DARKNESS EARLY AT NIGHT

I NEED LIGHT

LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT

yeah the caps lock is annoying

It was people's way of saying "Hey! Did you notice it's light later?" "Yeah, I noticed that." "That's worth some egg nog and mulled cider, dontcha think?" "Damn skippy!"

And then they did it the next year, too. Which made it a tradition. They had to do it after that.

the shortest day, the 3 days of "stalled sun" and, finally, the first noticably longer day (than the one previous) since July.

the birth of the sun or "the return of the king"

Just the, um, reverence thing. I mean...I'm happy about it and stuff.

my son and i celebrate humanlight (a secular humanist holiday on the 23rd) which typically falls the day after the solstice so i sort of incorporate the solstice as as sort of 'humanlight eve' so whereas on humanlight we focus on human accomplishment and hope for the future i like to incorporate a aspect of showing respect for the ecology and the responsibility humans have as a part of that ecology and i use the solstice as a way to focus on nature.

so we typically will go out that night and light a fire in my grill and roast some chestnuts, breath in the cold fresh air, i'll say a few words usually off the top of my head about nature and the ecology, we'll talk about trips we've taken earlier that year into the white mountains of nh. then we'll light the humanlight candle for the first time that night as a symbol of hope for the ecology as a whole.

It's my very own winter holiday.

I call it "no-holiday".

I don't celebrate the lengthening days. I celebrate the simple fact that all the idiots around me become noticeably less idiotic. It's probably just due to exhaustion from three solid months of full tilt stupidity and excess but, whatever it is, they're just not up to it for a while.

Today I went to my company Christmas Party. I learned:

>Obama is a Muslim who'll refuse to swear on a Bible.

>Forest Fires are caused by "Nature Nazi's"

I managed to keep myself out of trouble.

He and I are the same denomination---A CHRISTIAN denomination!! He even spoke at our church's 50th Anniversary event last summer. He's no more a Muslim than I am!! AAARRRRGGGHHH!!!

Thank you for letting me rant.

No-Holiday. Good idea.

She's a very sweet grandmotherly type who's deeply involved in her conservative church. A while back she was going with the whole Target is a "French company" thing.

What's particularly disturbing is that she's probably getting this stuff from someone at her church and trusts it for that reason. These people are super nice and would do just about anything to help someone out. It's sad to see them being misled like this.

It was fun. There was singing, and an earth ritual, and Buddhist chants, and dancing, and drumming. And cookies. Quite enjoyed it. :hi:

This is a time of new beginnings, I guess there is always hope.

In years past, we would call friends over to paint holiday cards and make gift extras or packages - a little incense, some herbs, trinkets, etc.
Then give these packages as gift on xmas.
Symbolically, it just works, and is like the pagan elven creativity (analogous to Santa's elves) that feeds the giving and universality of humanity that is xmas.

Synergy, and a secret elf smile.

well it's an early night, we wont be up for the actual solstice but this is how we marked it's coming tonight...



Roasted Chestnuts and mulled cider over an open fire