Winter Solstice Celebration

The solstice marks the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

Why celebrate? The winter solstice brings 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. It's the beginning of new life...celebrate the return of the light.

Winter Solstice Winter Fairy Ornaments

WhiteOak Art Designs Fairy Prints

Winter Solstice Winter Fairy Ornament measures 3 inches. Perfect for Solstice gifts. Commemorate each holiday season with a new ornament.

Winter Solstice Winter Fairy - 3 Inch Snowflake Porcelain Ornament

This Glossy Porcelain Snowflake Ornament image is printed on both sides. Comes with the gold hanging cord.

Important!

When Is Winter Solstice

Winter Solstice occurs on December 21, 2012

Countdown to Winter Solstice

Winter Solstice: December 21, 2012

Equinox, Solstice & Cross-Quarter Moments

Chart of 2011 equinox, solstice and cross quarter dates and times, worldwide from archaeoastronomy.com
Equinox, Solstice and Cross Quarter moments, seasonal boundaries for calendar 2011, precise to the minute, for world time zones, spring, summer, fall, winter, Imbolc, Beltaine, Lughnasad, samhain.
Chart of 2012 equinox, solstice and cross quarter dates and times, worldwide from archaeoastronomy.com
Equinox, Solstice and Cross Quarter moments, seasonal boundaries for calendar 2012, precise to the minute, for world time zones, spring, summer, fall, winter, Imbolc, Beltaine, Lughnasad, samhain.
when each season starts 2011 2012 first day of winter, spring, summer, fall
Find when each season starts for 2011 and 2012--the winter solstice, spring equinox, summer solstice, and fall equinox.

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Winter Soltice Extreme of Winter

The Winter Soltice "extreme of winter" holiday honors the end of the harvest and the return to hearth and home. In agricultural societies and the practice of Feng Shui, winter is associated with completion, storage and conservation of energy, until springtime arrives with the promise of a new beginning.

Winter Solstice at Machu Picchu At Sunrise

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The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, in the sense that the length of time elapsed between sunrise and sunset on this day is a minimum for the year.

Order The Winter Solstice: The Sacred Traditions of Christmas

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.

Music for the Winter Solstice

Brighten the darkest day of the year with beautiful music.

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Winter Solstice Tunes

iTunes

Track Artist Album  
Winter Solstice Michele McLaughlin Christmas - Plain & Simple
Winter Solstice R. Carlos Nakai Inner Voices
Canon In D Winter Solstice Winter Solstice: Carol of the Bells, Christmas Canon, O, Christmas Tree
Winter Solstice R. Carlos Nakai Changes

Winter Solstice at Stonehenge at Sunrise

A solstice calendar of surprising accuracy, Stonehenge dates back almost 5,000 years.



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photo from deadlyphoto.com

Celebrating A Celtic Christmas

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The Pagan Celebration of Yule

Longest Night of the Year

"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.(bbc.co.uk)

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."
~~(bbc.co.uk)

Winter Solstice at Newgrange

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.

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The Winter Solstice Illumination of Newgrange

At dawn on Winter Solstice every year, just after 9am, the sun begins to rise across the Boyne Valley from Newgrange over a hill known locally as Red Mountain. Given the right weather conditions, the event is spectacular. Click the link to read more and to see the photos.

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.

Winter Solstice Gifts

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Order This Mayan Calendar

The Temple of Kukulkan, the Feathered Serpent God at Chichen Itza

Very popular place to celebrate the Solstice

Kukulkan El Castillo, Chichen Itza

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.

Chichen Itza Photos From Flickr

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.

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The most yin time of year from a Feng Shui perspective, winter is associated with still water, cold, the moon, silence and darkness.

More Info about the Solstice

Solstice - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Solstice From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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
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...

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

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What Is So Important About The Winter Solstice of 2012

Mayan Calendar

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.

Listen To Solstice Concert On NPR Radio

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.

Solstice Projects

2 Winter Solstice Projects
winter solstice project, prayer stick and stones

Food For Winter Solstice

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Spiritual Cinema Circle

Winter Solstice House Applique Flag

Decorative Art Flag

Celebrating Summer Solstice

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Order 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.

In winter, it's natural for us to rest and reflect - taking comfort in warm foods, loving companionship, and stillness. However, rather than honoring the quiet, introspective side of our nature in winter, we create expectations that bring even more stress to our lives. Rather than filling our days with activity, it would be more wise to acknowledge the cycles of nature, gravitating to shelter and warmth during this season, gathering emotional support and comfort at this bleakest time of the year.

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Review Winter Solstice

by

TeaLady

Grandma, Reiki Master, Artist and traveler looking for others that want to laugh, dance and create! Celebrating the Solstice is always fun!

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Winter Solstice 

A Winter's Solstice: Silver Anniversary Edition

Amazon Price: $13.82 (as of 02/16/2012)Buy Now

Dawn Atkinson, who produced the first Winter Solstice disc, has gone back to her original concept of nontraditional seasonal music and novel arrangements of Christmas classics. ~~Amazon

The Return of the Light: 

Twelve Tales from Around the World for the Winter Solstice

The Return of the Light: Twelve Tales from Around the World for the Winter Solstice

Amazon Price: $8.27 (as of 02/16/2012)Buy Now

Celebrations honoring the winter solstice as a moment of transition and renewal date back thousands of years and occur among many peoples on every continent. The Return of the Light makes an ideal companion for everyone who carries on this tradition, no matter what their faith. Storyteller Carolyn McVickar Edwards retells twelve traditional tales-from North America, China, Scandinavia, India, Africa, South America, Europe, and Polynesia-that honor this magical moment. These are stories that will renew our wonder of the miracle of rebirth and the power of transition from darkness into light. ~~Amazon

Celebrate Everyday 

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