Society & Politics

The Winter Solstice and What It Means

reixun

The Winter Solstice and What It Means

The rising sun aligns with the Temple of Karnak in Luxor, Egypt during the Winter Solstice.

Happy Winter Solstice! In honor of the occasion, I'm writing a take on what the day means and what it stands for 😚 The connection of all of humanity to the earth, moon, sun and stars transcends *all* of our individual differences. This take is for everyone, even if you aren't spiritual 😛

The Winter Solstice and What It Means

The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year 🌚🌚

I'm sure you've heard this fact before pals 😜 It's the shortest day of the year as well as the longest night of the year. The reason for this is because the Earth is tilted on an axis.

The Winter Solstice and What It Means

This axis makes it so that one hemisphere of the Earth is farther from the sun at any given point. The colder half of the year happens when that hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun. Hence why at this time @Luci92 is experiencing warm weather in the Australian summer 🌞 The tilt makes it so that the equator doesn't face extreme seasons like Europe does.

The word "solstice" means...

Since the summer solstice in June, the sun's arc across the sky has steadily dropping lower and become shorter. On the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, the sun reaches its lowest possible arc. So low that in the days leading up to the solstice, the sun appears to rise and set in the same location.

The Winter Solstice and What It Means
This phenomena made the word "solstice" which comes from the roots sol- and sistere. Sol- is Latin for "sun" and "sistere" is Latin for "to make stand still". Together it would mean when the "sun stands still" like the Sun's arc appears to do.

The Winter Solstice is about reflection 🌝🌏🌚

The Solstice is traditionally a time to honor darkness. It's the official beginning to the season of Winter where the trees are dead and the chill seeps into our bones. It is a reminder of death, the rose dies... but only to be reborn again. This parallels the cycle of humanity. Winter is also a season of reflection, of pondering on how you've lived as we go into the New Year weeks afterward.

The Winter Solstice and What It Means

It also represents the turn into the 10th Zodiac, Capricorn. The energy of Capricorn is practical and grounded, it makes us reflect on the kind of energy we put out into the world. You should be allowed to see yourself as who you truly are without masking your feelings or judging yourself.

How is the Solstice spiritual?

The Winter Solstice is tied in with various cultures and ancient structures. Stone Henge located in England is carefully arranged so that the sightline is pointed directly at the Winter Solstice sunset. This shows how important the seasons were to the Ancients. Pagans, druids, wiccans as well as tourists come to see the sunset at Stonehenge during thr Solstice. Below is a photo of the celebration of the Solstice at Stonehenge in the 1980's.

The Winter Solstice and What It Means

The Temple of Karnak in Luxor, Egypt in the first photo posted on this take is also built to perfectly align with the sun on the Solstice. An interesting fact about the Temple of Karnak is that it is the *largest* religious building constructed to this day.

The Winter Solstice and What It Means

I beat myself about it everyday for not visiting it while I lived in Cairo 😣 It was built as a place of worship. The sun alignment is in a shrine to the Creation diety of Amun. He was the King of the gods. This ties the Winter Solstice with the eternal theme of creation, or rather, "re" creation as the days steadily become longer post-winter solstice.

Why is the Winter Solstice important?

This occasion is important to a number of religions, the different celebrations of it are:

Yule (neopagan)

Dongzhi Festival (Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese & Korean)

Yalda (Iranian)

Ziemattvetki (Latvian)

Korochun (Slavic)

and more.

It's important to *me* because I appreciate nature and the cycles it grows throughout the year. When I was young, I was somewhat obsessed with spirituality and believed in Faeries. I used to align gems to ward off bad spirits and read about stargates at 11:11 when the world aligned to let you know you are exactly where you need to be.

In that time, I read about Winter Solstices being a very fragile time in all aspects of the world. Even though now I don't believe in faeries anymore, I do believe that today is a day to think deeply and "travel through the soil of your own soul" to find the seeds that are hidden in the depths. Also, I love hippy shit like this ❤️❤️

Thank you for reading my Take, if you got through all of it 😂 it's a unique time of year and I hope you learned a lot from this Take. Once again, happy winter solstice pals 😚😚❤️☃️☃️

The Winter Solstice and What It Means
Post Opinion
21 Opinion