Happy Winter Solstice (Golden Rainbow)

Winter solstice- when the night and day are the same length. Druid and pagan holiday. adopted by the Christians to draw people away from the Naked Pagan parties.

Christmas tree- Pagan- cut down trees to bring them in and celibrate solstice. The Christians would burn them for being witches if caught.

Gift exchange- Created by the U.S. Gov't to boost midwinter economies.

eggnog- gross..even with rum

this has been a public service announcement

The solstice was the 21st this year. It has drifted a bit over the centuries and used to be the 25th 2000 years ago.

It seems the 25th was a very popular date back then for the birth of sons of Gods:

- Attis of Phrygia
- Dionysus/Bacchus (Greek/Roman) - my personal favourite (God of Wine)
- Osiris
- Krishna
- Mithra
- Zoroaster
- Hercules. Technically only a Hero, but he was the son of Zeus, born to a virgin on the 25th.

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Winter solstice- when the night and day are the same length.<!-/Quote-!>

That's the definition of an equinox. The Winter Solstice is the day on which we have the least hours of daylight, also marking the beginning of winter.

On the current Gregorian Calendar system, the winter solstice tends to occur either on the 21st or 22nd of December. However, on the old Julian Calendar, the one which was around when Christmas was invented by the Romans (adapting events such as Saturnalia, and prior pagan festivals), the solstice did indeed fall on the 25th December.