Many thanks to mac_talla for this contribution:
YULE LIKE SOLSTICE
In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle light.
In summer, quite the other way.
I have to go to bed by day.
-Robert Louis Stevenson-
Solstice- either of the two times of the year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator. The winter solstice (also referred to as Midwinter and Yule) occurs on 21 December.
An utterly astounding array of ancient cultures built their greatest architectures -- tombs, temples, cairns and sacred observatories -- so that they aligned with the solstices and equinoxes. Newgrange, is a beautiful megalithic site in Ireland. This huge circular stone structure is estimated to be 5,000 years old, older by centuries than Stonehenge, older than the Egyptian pyramids. It was built to receive a shaft of sunlight deep into its central chamber at dawn on winter solstice. Maeshowe, on the Orkney Islands north of Scotland, shares a similar trait. Hundreds of other megalithic structures throughout Europe are oriented to the solstices and the equinoxes. The blossoming field of archaeo-astronomy studies such sacred sites in the Americas, Asia, Indonesia, and the Middle East. Recent research into the medieval Great Zimbabwe in sub-Saharan Africa (also known as the "African Stonehenge") indicates a similar purpose. In North America, one of the most famous such sites is the Sun Dagger of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, built a thousand years ago.
Many medieval Catholic churches were also built as solar observatories. The church, once again reinforcing the close ties between religious celebration and seasonal passages, needed astronomy to predict the date of Easter. And so observatories were built into cathedrals and churches throughout Europe. Typically, a small hole in the roof admitted a beam of sunlight, which would trace a path along the floor. The path, called the meridian line, was often marked by inlays and zodiacal motifs. The position at noon throughout the year, including the extremes of the solstices, was also carefully marked.
Neolithic peoples were the first farmers. Their lives were intimately tied to the seasons and the cycle of harvest. In modern times, when so few of us are involved in the production of our own food, we have lost that awareness of just how dependent we truly are on the abundance of mother earth. Midwinter day gives the least period of light followed by the greatest period of darkness. For those who watched the heavens in ancient times, it must have seemed as if the sun was standing still or diminishing entirely. Indeed, the word-solstice-means standing sun.. Many, many cultures the world over perform solstice ceremonies. At their root: an ancient fear that the failing light would never return unless humans intervened with anxious vigil or antic celebration. Virtually every culture has its own special celebration to encourage the light on this day, but a common theme of solstice celebrations, everywhere, is the burning of fires to rekindle the dwindling sun. Throughout northern Europe where winters are severe, the solstice fires were lit indoors.
The rebirth of the sun. The birth of the Son.
Christmas was transplanted onto winter solstice some 1,600 years ago, centuries before the English language emerged from its Germanic roots. Is that why we came to express these two ideas in words that sound so similar? The yule log in your fireplace and the coloured lights on your Christmas tree are your solstice fires. They come to you in a direct line from your neolithic ancestors attempting to rekindle the sun.
Stand in the sunlight at mid-day on 21 December, and face your shadow. This is the longest it can be all year. Consider the deeds of your life, the extent at which the shadow of your own influence has fallen on the earth. Upon whom has it fallen? How have you affected the world in which you live?
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For the first time ever, the 2007 Winter Solstice illumination of the passage and chamber at Newgrange was streamed live on the internet. The video is about about an hour long and well worth the time.
http://www.newgrange.com/webcast.htm
For those with shorter attention spans or more pressing issues, a far shorter video on New Grange and the solstice can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0MCWL3wcis&feature=related
And finally, for those who wish to know the precise time their shadow is longest:
http://www.archaeoastronomy.com/2011.shtml
