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Celebrate the Winter Solstice
December 21, 17:47 (Universal Time), ( June 21 in the Southern Hemisphere) marks the solstice; the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
Are you celebrating the Solstice this year? Need some ideas? You could go to Machu Picchu or Chitzen Itza. Or you could check out my lens!
Why celebrate?
It's the shortest day of the year, night and day have equal hours. It's the beginning of new life...celebrate the return of the light...read more on this lens!
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2009 Equinox, Solstice & Cross-Quarter Moments
- Chart of 2009 equinox, solstice and cross quarter dates and times, worldwide from archaeoastronomy.com
- Equinox, Solstice and Cross Quarter moments, seasonal boundaries for calendar 2009, precise to the minute, for world time zones, spring, summer, fall, winter, Imbolc, Beltaine, Lughnasad, samhain.
Do You Celebrate the Solstice?
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How Do You Celebrate The Solstice?
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- anaturalphenomenon anaturalphenomenon Nov 14, 2009 @ 10:52 am
- My husband and I decided, since we're not christian, or religious in any way, and we do not support commercialism, that we would rather observe the Winter Solstice, and celebrate the return of light to our world, with our children. We're celebrating the winter solstice this year for the first time!
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- MindGuru MindGuru Dec 28, 2008 @ 6:38 pm
- We used to celebrate solstice with egg nog and a good D&D game.
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About the Winter Solstice
Longest Night of the YearThe winter solstice marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year. The sun appears at its lowest point in the sky, and its noontime elevation appears to be the same for several days before and after the solstice. Hence the origin of the word solstice, which comes from Latin solstitium, from sol, "sun" and -stitium, "a stoppage." Following the winter solstice, the days begin to grow longer and the nights shorter.
The Pagan celebration of Winter Solstice (also known as Yule) is one of the oldest winter celebrations in the world.
Ancient people were hunters and spent most of their time outdoors. The seasons and weather played a very important part in their lives. Because of this many ancient people had a great reverence for, and even worshipped the sun. The Norsemen of Northern Europe saw the sun as a wheel that changed the seasons. It was from the word for this wheel, houl, that the word yule is thought to have come. At mid-winter the Norsemen lit bonfires, told stories and drank sweet ale.
The ancient Romans also held a festival to celebrate the rebirth of the year. Saturnalia ran for seven days from the 17th of December. It was a time when the ordinary rules were turned upside down. Men dressed as women and masters dressed as servants. The festival also involved decorating houses with greenery, lighting candles, holding processions and giving presents.
Before Christianity came to the British Isles the Winter Solstice was held on the shortest day of the year (21st December). The Druids (Celtic priests) would cut the mistletoe that grew on the oak tree and give it as a blessing. Oaks were seen as sacred and the winter fruit of the mistletoe was a symbol of life in the dark winter months.
It was also the Druids who began the tradition of the yule log. The Celts thought that the sun stood still for twelve days in the middle of winter and during this time a log was lit to conquer the darkness, banish evil spirits and bring luck for the coming year.
Many of these customs are still followed today. They have been incorporated into the Christian and secular celebrations of Christmas.
Celebrate Winter Solstice
Sunrise on the Winter Solstice at Machu Picchu
The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, respectively, in the sense that the length of time elapsed between sunrise and sunset on this day is a minimum for the year.
A solstice calendar of surprising accuracy, Stonehenge dates back almost 5,000 years.
Sunrise on the Winter Solstice at Stonehenge
Machu Picchu
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Machu Picchu in 1911
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Winter Solstice
by John Matthews
This beautiful illustrated book by Celtic and Arthurian folklorist John Matthews (Classic Celtic Fairy Tales, LJ 1/98) presents the history of modern Christmas rituals.
The Winter Solstice: The Sacred Traditions of Christmas
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 12/28/2009)
Chichen Itza - The Temple of Kukulkan
Music for the Winter Solstice
Brighten the darkest day of the year with beautiful music.
The Temple of Kukulkan, the Feathered Serpent God (also known as Quetzalcoatl to the Aztecs) is the largest and most important ceremonial structure at Chichen Itza.
This ninety-foot tall pyramid was built during the eleventh to thirteenth centuries directly upon the multiple foundations of previous temples.
The architecture of the pyramid encodes precise information regarding the Mayan calendar. Each face of the four-sided structure has a stairway with ninety-one steps, which together with the shared step of the platform at the top, add up to 365, the number of days in a year. These stairways also divide the nine terraces of each side of the pyramid into eighteen segments, representing the eighteen months of the Mayan calendar.
The pyramid is also directionally oriented to mark the solstices and equinoxes. The axes that run through the northwest and southwest corners of the pyramid are oriented toward the rising point of the sun at the summer solstice and its setting point at the winter solstice.
The northern stairway was the principal sacred path leading to the summit. At sunset on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, an interplay between the sun's light and the edges of the stepped terraces on the pyramid creates a fascinating - and very brief - shadow display upon the sides of the northern stairway. A serrated line of seven interlocking triangles gives the impression of a long tail leading downward to the stone head of the serpent Kukulkan, at the base of the stairway.
Adjacent to the head of Kukulkan, a doorway leads to an interior staircase ending at a small and very mysterious shrine.
This ninety-foot tall pyramid was built during the eleventh to thirteenth centuries directly upon the multiple foundations of previous temples.
The architecture of the pyramid encodes precise information regarding the Mayan calendar. Each face of the four-sided structure has a stairway with ninety-one steps, which together with the shared step of the platform at the top, add up to 365, the number of days in a year. These stairways also divide the nine terraces of each side of the pyramid into eighteen segments, representing the eighteen months of the Mayan calendar.
The pyramid is also directionally oriented to mark the solstices and equinoxes. The axes that run through the northwest and southwest corners of the pyramid are oriented toward the rising point of the sun at the summer solstice and its setting point at the winter solstice.
The northern stairway was the principal sacred path leading to the summit. At sunset on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, an interplay between the sun's light and the edges of the stepped terraces on the pyramid creates a fascinating - and very brief - shadow display upon the sides of the northern stairway. A serrated line of seven interlocking triangles gives the impression of a long tail leading downward to the stone head of the serpent Kukulkan, at the base of the stairway.
Adjacent to the head of Kukulkan, a doorway leads to an interior staircase ending at a small and very mysterious shrine.
- Order this print
- The Temple of Kukulkan
- Read More
- Chichen Itza
Kukulkan along west face of northern stairway of El Castillo, Chichen Itza
Mayan Calendar
The Mayan Calendar and the Transformation of Consciousness
Amazon Price: $12.24 (as of 12/28/2009)
Chichen Itza,
Their city became known as Chichen Itza, which means "Mouth of the Well of ... the sun at the summer solstice and its setting point at the winter solstice.
Mayan Masks
La Iglesia
Ossario - High Pries...
El Castillo
Chichen-Itza
Me at Chichen Itza
Me in front of El Ca...
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Me in front of El Ca...
Excavations continue...
Warrior relief at Ch...
El Caracol at Chiche...
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Skull wall at Chiche...
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Chichen Itza
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Web Pages about the Solstice
- Solstice - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Solstice From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Ancient Origins: Solstice
- Candlegrove's award-winning winter solstice site traces the ancient origins of holiday celebrations and traditions. Entering its second decade of holiday countdown.
- List of Winter Solstice web sites
- list of winter solstice web sites
- Solstice a Cause for Celebration Since Ancient Times
- National Geographic - Although the year's shortest day heralds the onset of winter in the Northern Hemisphere it also promises the gradual return of the sun after a prolonged period of darkness. Since ancient times, people have celebrated the solstice and observed it with many different cultural and religious traditi
- Winter Solstice
- Winter Solstice Links:Solstice *Celebrating Winter Solstice * Winter Solstice Celebrations * Saturnalia: Winter Solstice in Pagan Rome *
Winter Solstice (a scientific explanation of the solstice) * - Blather: Blather: Winter Solstice at Stonehenge
- Dave escapes the gravitational pull of London, stopping off for a mid-winter visit to Britain's best-known megalithic site...
- Machu-Picchu-at-the-Winter-Solstice-sunrise
- Photo
- The Winter Solstice illumination of Newgrange
- Pictures of the sunlight entering the passage, including stunning photos from inside the chamber, of Newgrange at dawn on December 21st, 1999, the dawn of the new millennium.
Newgrange Winter Solstice
On the 21st December each year a beam of sunlight shines up the passageway to light the central chamber of Newgrange.
These are images taken during several visits at this time to the music titled Newgrange by Clannad.
These are images taken during several visits at this time to the music titled Newgrange by Clannad.
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Celebrations of the Solstice
- Winter solstice celebrations of Christianity, Judaism, Neopaganism, etc
- Winter solstice celebrations of Christianity, Judaism, Neopaganism, etc.
- Winter Solstice Traditions
- Winter Solstice:
The Unconquered Sun At the Winter Solstice,
we celebrate Children's Day to honour our children and to bring warmth,
light and cheerfulness into the dark time of the year. Holidays such
as this have their origin as "holy days". They are the way human beings
mark the sacre - Circle Sanctuary - Winter Solstice
- Information about the Season, ce;ebrations for the family.
- Native American Winter Solstice Celebration
- Native American Winter Solstice Celebration
- Celebrating Winter Solstice - School of the Seasons
- The Winter Solstice is unique among days of the year=; the time of the longest night and the shortest day. The dark triumphs but only briefly. For the Solstice is also a turning point. From now on (until the Summer Solstice, at any rate), the nights grow shorter and the days grow lon
- The Winter Solstice Festival
- The Winter Solstice Festival by Tony Palermo
Everybody knows that in December, people celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah
(and now, the newly minted African-American holiday,
Kwanzaa), but how many realize just how cl
Winter Solstice Photos
happy holidays to al...
Red white and pine
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Too-early Sunset
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Eric, Alicia, and Fr...
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Loveland, CO
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Solstice Concerts
Listen online.
- NPR : A 'Paul Winter Solstice' Celebration
- Award-winning saxophonist and composer Paul Winter presents his annual Winter Solstice Concert -- a musical, theatrical and environmental spectacle celebrating the return of the sun after the longest night of the year.
Where are the Celebrations?
- Winter Solstice Goddess Celebration - Eugene Oregon
- Winter Solstice Goddess Celebration
- Newport News-Times: Solstice Celebration scheduled at Driftwood
- Solstice Celebration scheduled at Driftwood
- Living Earth's 9th Annual Winter Solstice Celebration
- Winter Solstice Celebration
Living Earth's 9th Annual
Winter Solstice Celebration
Saturday, Dec 16, 2006, 7:30 pm
Friends Meeting House
4312 SE Stark Tickets at the door: Suggested Donation:
$10 to
Winter Solstice Gifts
Solstice Projects
- 2 Winter Solstice Projects
- winter solstice project, prayer stick and stones
Winter Solstice Gifts
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Celtic Solstice
Reviewer: Shanshad "shanachie_shadowfax" (Discworld)
Imagine waiting in the world's largest gothic cathedral in the predawn hours of the Summer solstice. Now imagine that huge space with it's vaulting ceilings, mighty piers and somber shadows being filled with music and light. The soaring of a pipe organ, a jazzy and passionate alto saxophone, the soul-stirring Uillean pipes and ethereal voices weaving through the space to create something beautifully meditate and powerfully soul-inspiring. Can you see it? Then you have some idea of this CD and the background in which this music was created.
The Celtic Solstice CD showcases Paul Winter's musical feast on the Summer Solstice performed at St. John the Divine in New York City. With a melding of Irish and North American artists, he crafts an awe-inspiring experience that dips and soars through the soul with slow grace and timeless elegance. The fusion of jazz and traditional Celtic-of international sounds and modern instruments create something new and wonderful-something that truly is "the music of what happens". So, what does happen when you bring together renowned Uillean pipe player Davy Spillane, Riverdance fiddler Eileen Ivers, ethereal vocalist Karan Casey and whistle-player Joanie Madden with a host of other musicians in a space both sacred and joyful? Pure magic.
Imagine waiting in the world's largest gothic cathedral in the predawn hours of the Summer solstice. Now imagine that huge space with it's vaulting ceilings, mighty piers and somber shadows being filled with music and light. The soaring of a pipe organ, a jazzy and passionate alto saxophone, the soul-stirring Uillean pipes and ethereal voices weaving through the space to create something beautifully meditate and powerfully soul-inspiring. Can you see it? Then you have some idea of this CD and the background in which this music was created.
The Celtic Solstice CD showcases Paul Winter's musical feast on the Summer Solstice performed at St. John the Divine in New York City. With a melding of Irish and North American artists, he crafts an awe-inspiring experience that dips and soars through the soul with slow grace and timeless elegance. The fusion of jazz and traditional Celtic-of international sounds and modern instruments create something new and wonderful-something that truly is "the music of what happens". So, what does happen when you bring together renowned Uillean pipe player Davy Spillane, Riverdance fiddler Eileen Ivers, ethereal vocalist Karan Casey and whistle-player Joanie Madden with a host of other musicians in a space both sacred and joyful? Pure magic.
Celtic Solstice
Amazon Price: (as of 12/28/2009)
Winter Solstice of 2012
- Crystal Lotus
- Winter Solstice of 2012 What is so important about the winter solstice of 2012? How were calculations made so accurately? The Sacred Tree
of the Mayans is the crossing point of the ecliptic with the band
of the Milky Way. The Milky Way plays an important role in Mayan
images. - image « theAbysmal
- theAbysmal
because nothing's better
TheAbysmal Calendar
TheAbysmal I-Ching & Tao
TheAbysmal Recipes Year 15 8-XIV Month 0
14 December 2007 Countdown to 2012 - 260 Weeks over 5 Years
The Calendar of 52 Weeks, divided into 13 Months of 4 Weeeks, or 4 Q
Twitter Search For Solstice
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- OnyxWolf
- This is such a sexy song ... plus I got True Blood on DVD for Solstice XD ~ Bad Things ~ Jace Everett #musicm... ♫ http://blip.fm/~iffgq
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- revisionmusic
- NYE show is going to be a rager...Solstice opens with Nick, JP and Devon playing in that band, then a full set of REVISION to close.
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- spyjournal
- @jg_rat solstice was 8 days ago...
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- jg_rat
- Emerges briefly. How was your solstice, people?
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Twitter Search For Winter Solstice
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- joeldesmond
- Snowy scenes: Last Monday was December 21st - the Winter Solstice, or the shortest day of the year (in the Nort.. http://bit.ly/4skVMr
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- sveldheim
- Had forgotten how the Oregon winter sun swings so low along the horizon, so noon feels like near sunset. Solstice feels real, here. I like.
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- athelia143
- Enjoyed a lovely Winter Solstice celebration with the Grove on the 19th.
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- FayeAway
- whoa, winter solstice has come and gone. yay for incrementally longer days!
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- mike_sb
- An advantage to homebrewing around winter solstice is the tap water is FUCKING COLD.
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What Are Your Thoughts About The Solstice?
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- Demaw Demaw Nov 15, 2009 @ 6:38 am
- I try to acknowledge the seasonal holidays rather than the buying seasons. The pursuit of a longer Christmas buying season runs rough shod over everything else. 5*
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- heehaw heehaw Jan 6, 2009 @ 3:46 pm
- Nice lens , very interesting. i did not ever celebrate Winter Solstice before.
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- LindaJM LindaJM Dec 17, 2008 @ 11:36 am
- Hi TeaLady... what do people say to those celebrating Winter Solstice? Joyous Yule? May the log burn brightly? This year I'm celebrating something new, the Festival of the Inner Light (Dec. 21 to Mar. 21) - I just made a lens about it, in case you're interested. It is my attempt to bring meaning to winter celebration. :)
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- livetech livetech Dec 17, 2008 @ 6:52 am
- Nice lens, 5*. My brother was born on the day of the Winter Solstice, so he's always miserable, with it being the shortest day and all!
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- grannysage grannysage Dec 14, 2008 @ 1:04 pm
- Welcome Yule! Very nice lens. Wonderful picturesI would love to be at Machu Picchu at the solstice.
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About Me
Lensmaster TeaLady has been a member since March 10 2006, has rated 243 lenses, favorited 137, and has created 74 lenses from scratch. This member's top-ranked page is "Celebrating Winter Solstice". See all my lenses
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Contents
- My Top Lenses
- Countdown To Winter Solstice!
- 2009 Equinox, Solstice & Cross-Quarter Moments
- Do You Celebrate the Solstice?
- How Do You Celebrate The Solstice?
- Send a Solstice Card or a Christmas Card
- About the Winter Solstice
- Celebrate Winter Solstice
- Machu Picchu
- Winter Solstice
- Winter Solstice
- Chichen Itza - The Temple of Kukulkan
- Music for the Winter Solstice
- Kukulkan along west face of northern stairway of El Castillo, Chichen Itza
- Mayan Calendar
- Chichen Itza,
- Web Pages about the Solstice
- Newgrange Winter Solstice
- Celebrations of the Solstice
- Winter Solstice Photos
- Solstice Concerts
- Where are the Celebrations?
- Winter Solstice Gifts
- Solstice Projects
- Winter Solstice Gifts
- Celtic Solstice
- Winter Solstice of 2012
- Twitter Search For Solstice
- Twitter Search For Winter Solstice
- What Are Your Thoughts About The Solstice?
- Love This Lens?
- Bookmark This Lens
- About Me
- Isle of Squid
- Squidoo Link Directory
by TeaLady
I am an independent affiliate with Send Out Cards, internet marketer, artist and webmaster, who loves to read and is forever curious. Grandma whos... (more)
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