Sun Stands Still
For thousands of years, people told time by the movement of the sun across the sky. Because the sun rose each day in the east and set in the west, they thought of time as circular rather than linear. It was the same with the seasons. The days would get shorter, then longer, then shorter again, completing a circuit. At the solstice twice each year, the sun would appear to set at the same point on the horizon for several days in a row, reversing its journey north or south; hence, the term solstice (sol+stice), from the Latin meaning “sun stands still.”
The solstice was often the occasion for pagan revels, even human sacrifices. In northern Europe, the winter solstice festival was known as Midvinterblot, meaning “midwinter blood.” As the name suggests, animal or human sacrifice was practiced as a way of appealing to the gods to bring back the waning sun. Elsewhere, sacrificial rituals were enacted at the winter solstice to represent the death and rebirth of pagan gods, including the Egyptian god Osiris and the Greek Dionysus. The Roman Saturnalia was a weeklong debauch, much like the Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans or Rio de Janeiro, in which traditional master-slave roles were briefly reversed. A slave or criminal was crowned as mock king and got to live it up before he was killed at the end of the festival. The early church observed the birth of Jesus Christ around the vernal equinox in March. Then in the fourth century, Pope Julius I decreed that Christ's birth should be celebrated on December 25, which is when the winter solstice fell on the Roman calendar at the time. The date was chosen to supplant the pagan sun gods who were born or reborn on that day.
To mark the winter solstice, I have prepared a brief video slideshow of images taken at first light during the waning days of the year. Enjoy!
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© Eric Rennie Photography