[pct-l] Holiday Cheers

[csxii at schizoaffective.org (csxii@schizoaffective.org)]

The solstice had been celebrated by many cultures around the globe .
The ancient Romans gave gifts to celebrate the solstice and brought
evergreens indoors.  Most of our so called Christmas Traditions have
their roots in the celebration of the winter solstice.  

X-tains do not have any idea what the birthday of Jesus is.  They
decided to celebrate it on the solstice.

Origins of solstice celebration

The seasons of the year are caused by the 23.5? tilt of the earth's
axis. Because the earth is rotating like a top or gyroscope, it points
in a fixed direction continuously -- towards a point in space near the
North Star. But the earth is also revolving around the sun. During
half of the year, the southern hemisphere is more exposed to the sun
than is the northern hemisphere. During the rest of the year, the
reverse is true. At noontime in the Northern Hemisphere the sun
appears high in the sky during summertime and low in the sky during
winter. The time of the year when the sun reaches its maximum
elevation occurs on the day with the greatest number of daylight
hours. This is called the summer solstice, and is typically on JUN-21
in the Northern Hempisphere -- the first day of summer. "Solstice" is
derived from two Latin words: "sol" meaning sun, and "sistere," to
cause to stand still. The lowest elevation occurs about DEC-21 and is
the winter solstice -- the first day of winter, when the night time
hours are maximum.

In pre-historic times, winter was a very difficult time for Aboriginal
people in the northern latitudes. The growing season had ended and the
tribe had to live off of stored food and whatever animals they could
catch. The people would be troubled as the life-giving sun sank lower
in the sky each noon. They feared that it would eventually disappear
and leave them in permanent darkness and extreme cold. After the
winter solstice, they would have reason to celebrate as they saw the
sun rising and strengthening once more. Although many months of cold
weather remained before spring, they took heart that the return of the
warm season was inevitable. The concept of birth and or death/rebirth
became associated with the winter solstice. The Aboriginal people had
no elaborate instruments to detect the solstice. But they were able to
notice a slight elevation of the sun's path within a few days after
the solstice -- perhaps by DEC-25. Celebrations were often timed for
about the 25th. 









On Sat, 17 Dec 2005 09:54:56 -0600, "Chris Lee"
<chrisdonlee@hotmail.com> had this to say:

>Well, I know that Germanic peoples were celebrating Christmas as early as the fourth century.  I thought that Martin Luther was the first to begin the Christmas tree tradition.  The first mentioning of a Christmas Tree was at Strasburg in 1605, and wasn't introduced to England or France until 1840-1841.  
>
>Not saying that you are wrong.  I really don't know.  This is just what I have found in my research.
>
>Chris Lee
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