Tis the Season

Originally published in the Informanté newspaper on Wednesday, 9 December, 2015.

From the earliest times, mankind has looked to the stars for guidance. But not just any stars – our star, Sol, the sun. Barrelling around the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky way galaxy at 790 000 km/h, it has provided light and heat for the past 4.57 billion years. Earth formed from its periphery, accreting from its solar nebula, and blasts about its orbit at 107 000 km/h, once a year. And then 200 000 years ago, mankind first appears on Earth’s ovoid surface, spinning around it at 1674 km/h, and looked up.

Because even though most of this movement happened in nearly the same orbital plane to the ecliptic (the path of the sun in the celestial sphere), the earth happened to have a bit of an axial tilt. Specifically, an axial tilt of about 23.4 degrees – the cause of the seasons on earth. The axial tilt changes the intensity of sunlight that reaches us during the year, causing weather changes and making the sun appear higher or lower in the sky during certain times of year.

From its early years, humanity has been economically dependent on the seasons. Mating seasons of animals, planting seasons for crops, and more. But in the cold climates of the northern hemisphere, one season in particular spelled danger. The famine months, or winter, was particularly harsh. Starvation was common, but with our eyes on the skies, we could see the change in the position of the sun.

At the winter solstice, the sun reached its lowest point in the sky, and started to rise again. With most cattle slaughtered so they don’t have to be fed during the winter, and wine and beer made during the year finally fermented and ready for drinking, the sign that the sun was once again rising in the sky became a time for celebration. Ancient sites like Stonehenge, built around 3000 to 2000 BCE, show evidence of this. Stonehenge’s great trilithon was carefully aligned on a sight-line on the winter solstice sunset, indicating that the sun would rise again the next day, and a year was reborn. This has resulted in a great many feasts traditionally celebrated around the solstice.


Indeed, the midwinter feast has become a centrepiece for many a culture. The Roman Republic held its feast of Saturnalia from as early as 497 BCE. With a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn, then followed by a public banquet, and private gift-giving, with continual partying and a carnival atmosphere, it is no wonder that the poets called it “the best of days.” Saturnalia lasted from 17 to 23 December, with the ceremony of renewal of light by Sol Invictus (Dies Natalis Solis Invicti), the Roman sun god, following on 25 December. 

In Sri Lanka, the Buddhists have been celebrating the solstice since 200 BCE. On the full moon in December, the Unduvapa Poya festival kicks off, commemorating Theri Sangamitta’s day of arrival from India to establish the Order of Nuns and marking her bringing a sapling of the sacred Bodhi-Tree from Bodh Gaya and planting it in Aunradhapura. On this day, Sanghamitta Day, ten ordained nuns initiate the festive celebrations every year. And even in China, they’ve been celebrating the solstice via the Dōngzhì Festival, celebrating the yin and yang philosophy of balance and harmony in the cosmos.

Of course, it was in 325 CE when the solstice festival was incorporated into a religious festival about a teenage pregnancy that was successfully delivered in a stable, due to the lack of any social care. This child would become an icon in this religion, and it is why this time is now known as Christmas. Christianity – perhaps you’ve heard of it? It’s apparently quite popular around these parts.

But Christianity was not immediately popular, and even up to the 14th century, the Germanic peoples of northern Europe continued their solstice festival traditions, called the yuletide, celebrated with feasts of meat and toasts. Toasts to Odin "for victory and power to the king", to the gods Njörðr and Freyr "for good harvests and for peace", and to the king was drunk. Toasts to departed family were also common. It is from the Yule that the Christmas traditions of a tree and a wreath come from.

Even in Muslim countries, the winter solstice is celebrated. In Iran, Shab-e Yaldā is celebrated on the "longest and darkest night of the year," and friends and family gather to eat, drink and read poetry. Red coloured fruit and nuts are eaten, symbolizing the red hues of dawn and the glow of life. 

The latest in the long line of solstice celebrations, of course, is Festivus. Originally a family tradition of the O’Keefe’s in the United States, it became a popular celebration after being televised in the sitcom Seinfeld. Described as "the perfect secular theme for an all-inclusive December gathering," it presents itself as an alternative for the commercialisation of Christmas. It’s “a Festivus for the rest of us.”

Here in Namibia, of course, we’ll be experiencing the summer solstice, but we’ll still be celebrating. After all, humanity has become one big family over the years, and now we all celebrate together. So on Tuesday, 22 December 2015, at 06h49, the sun will be directly above the tropic of Capricorn, the solstice will have occurred. Feast, and have a toast with the family you’ve still got, remembering those you’ve lost.

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