Winter Soltice...

[LordKathen]

Just wondering some opinions on Winter Soltice. My Freethought group (athiests)
are planning to celebrate it. I am new to the group, so did not know about this party untill yesterday. I asked why an athiest would have any interest in ritual like this, and they said it was just a calender event to celebrate the coming of the sun. I said I thought it was just a reason to celebrate x-mass without the christian traditions. They said I was wrong. I see it as either that or a wiccan ritual of sorts. I never celebrated it before and dont plan to now. It is harmless, but seems pretty hipacritical to me. I dont want this thread to turn into a religous debate. Most of you know my position on that, I just want some ideas or opinions about the soltice please. I know there is some members from other places than the US, so their opinions would be great to.

[antryg]

All celebrations of the Solstice that I know of have been tied to religion in one form or another. They are usually tied to agrarian communties. I've never heard of making it a party along the lines of crossing the equator for the first time.

[Chewbacca]

A total mudane and non-religious observance of the soltice is it marks the longest night of the year and the shortest day.

Why not? A reason to party! The freaks do come out at night and the winter soltice is the longest night! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Wiccans DO celebrate the soltice but no fair-minded one would claim it to be exclusive. I find it highly unlikely that these or any other stauch atheist's are going to cast a circle and do rituals in honor of spiritual archtypes and traditions like a witch would do.

[LordKathen]

Originally posted by Chewbacca: A total mudane and non-religious observance of the soltice is it marks the longest night of the year and the shortest day. Why not? A reason to party! The freaks do come out at night and the winter soltice is the longest night! [img]smile.gif[/img] Wiccans DO celebrate the soltice but no fair-minded one would claim it to be exclusive. I find it highly unlikely that these or any other stauch atheist's are going to cast a circle and do rituals in honor of spiritual archtypes and traditions like a witch would do.

Good point. Like I said before, its harmless, just feels wierd to celebrate anything to do with nature. I dont know. Maybe Im being to stauch about it.
I have been athiest my whole life, but am just becoming active in an athiest group here in town, so Im learning some new things. Maybe I'll flow with it, maybe not.

[Borvik]

In some regions Christians have integrated the celebration of solstice in one way or the other.
Over here we are not really celebrating it. It's used mostly as an *excuse* to party the whole night through and lighting a great fire.
It's kind of a tradition where most people don't care very much about the background anymore but there's still a lot of fun into it. [img]graemlins/biglaugh.gif[/img]

[The Ornery One]

If you prefer, you can think of it as a Norse or Celtic holiday. Other names for Winter Solstice are Midwinter, Sun Return, and Fionn's day.

[Epona]

Think of it like this.
Celebrating midwinter (and in fact all seasons) is an ancient tradition going back to a time when there were no clocks or calendars. It was very important to societies reliant on their own agriculture to know when to start ploughing their plots of land and sowing their seeds. So they watched the phases of the moon and the stars, and length of sunlight during the day, and had festivals at certain times to mark the beginning of, in this instance, ploughing time. It served as a reminder to the whole community that they must soon start to plough their fields in order to have a crop next summer.
These events do not have to be imbued with mysticism. Of course the other purpose of a midwinter festival is to cheer everyone up at a time when life is hard, cold and wet, when there may be scarcity.
Of course to people with little knowledge of biology and cosmology, these events and the turning of the seasons did take on a mystical element, but it's not compulsory.
Celebrate it with this in mind, and enjoy yourself!

[Garnet FalconDance]

Well...........I'm not Wiccan but I am pagan, and I celebrate Yule (Solstice) in a semi-religious manner. It is, to me, an observation of the turning of the seasons but also a wonderment that such a thing occurs to begin with. I don't call my deity "God" or "Allah" or any of the myriad of other names given to a higher power. I simply revel in the majesty of the entire creation and remain deeply humbled that I am included as a part.

[Rokenn]

Fun fact about why Christmas is so close to the Winter Solstice:

In the early years of Christianity, Easter was the main holiday; the birth of Jesus was not celebrated. In the fourth century, church officials decided to institute the birth of Jesus as a holiday. Unfortunately, the Bible does not mention date for his birth (a fact Puritans later pointed out in order to deny the legitimacy of the celebration). Although some evidence suggests that his birth may have occurred in the spring (why would shepherds be herding in the middle of winter?), Pope Julius I chose December 25. It is commonly believed that the church chose this date in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival. First called the Feast of the Nativity, the custom spread to Egypt by 432 and to England by the end of the sixth century. By the end of the eighth century, the celebration of Christmas had spread all the way to Scandinavia. Today, in the Greek and Russian orthodox churches, Christmas is celebrated 13 days after the 25th, which is also referred to as the Epiphany or Three Kings Day. This is the day it is believed that the three wise men finally found Jesus in the manger.

Source:http://www.historychannel.com/cgi-bi...ays/christmas/

Easter is right next to the Spring Equinox for the same reason. Call em what you will, but ancient cristians were no dummies.

[RevRuby]

traditionally it is the witch's holiday of rebirth (i say witch's because i am one, but i am, not wicca.) it is the celebration of the coming of lighter days. however i know agnostic's (scientific minded) who throw solstice parties. it is not an admission of what they believe, but it is a holiday that is easiest to remove the religious connotations from, as for christmas every year there is a true meaning of christmas movie on about every day or three times a weekend after thanksgiving, it's hard to forget the religious connotations with that. i do celebrate christmas for two reasons, most of my family is christian, and i love to give. i love buying presents, so for me it is simply a giving holiday, an excuse to spoil my loved ones, anywho...i'll not discuss my solstice plans here as they were not asked for...