The winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days, the winter solstice occurs on December 21 or 22 each year.
Many of you witnessed the Lunar Eclipse last evening.
During the total lunar eclipse the sky turned a deep red.
It is the first time in almost 500 years that a lunar eclipse has coincided with the winter solstice!
From the dawn of man, interpretation of the event has varied from culture to culture, but most cultures have held a recognition of rebirth, involving holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations.
The solstice itself may have been a special moment during neolithic times.
Archaeological sites such as Stonehenge in Britain, the primary axis seems to have been carefully aligned on a sight-line pointing to the winter solstice sunset.
Artist, Eric Parnes, constructed this model of Stonehenge
for Still Life.
For Neolithic peoples, this time of the year was dark and foreboding, the coming of light meant the coming of spring, and for that, there was much to celebrate. Our impulse to hold onto certain traditions today -- candles, evergreens, feasting and generosity -- are echoes of a past that extends many thousands of years further than we ever before imagined.
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