Winter solstice? Yule??

Question

Why would anyone wish to celebrate a day when the earth is shrouded in darkness the longest? According to wikipedia, Swiss kings would sacrifice male slaves, other groups would gather together to ‘lay hands on’ and make pledges, with wild boars as witness, just before they butchered the beast, then they enjoyed eating its flesh while its head adorned the table. And these where the ‘civilized’ functions for this ‘holy day’ Well, I guess that is why they wanted as much darkness as possible. Perversions love to hide among the shadows. What a contrast when compared to the Birth of our Lord, when the Light of the WORLD is celebrated

Answer 1

Jesus said, I am the light of the world. And he is. What a dark and sick place this was before he came. Now the light is there for all so see.

Answer 2

sigh. Look in to most any old religion and you will find some type sacrifice. Human sacrifice is quite rare.

What the celebration is about is not the darkness, it is that now the days will be getting longer. The Sun is gaining strength and returning. the promise of a new year and soon crops will be growing and food plentiful.

So ever been to a pig barbeque? Where they cook the whole pig in a big cooker? Very common to leave the pig's head on. Been to a bunch myself. All run by Christians. In old paintings you see feasts with critters heads on all the time - and those would be Christians in those.

Answer 3

Our church (Mennonite) observes the winter solstice but it is not a time of celebration. It is more a time of comforting those who mourn, remembering those who are walking through difficult (dark) times and are awaiting the return of hope. In Christ we have hope, yet at times it gets shrouded by the difficult circumstances of life we experience.

Now all this is in contrast to my neighbors who have a party that night because it is the longest night. I won't go into details about what happens there!

Answer 4

That is why the chineese have always referred to the central Europeans as barbarians.
As the the celebration, it is the start of the new year and the lengthening of the day, not the darkness that is celebrated.
Yes the comming of the light..!!

Answer 5

It is a celebration of life enduring through the darkest days.

Yes, a lot of pagan and Christian nonsense has been dumped onto this holiday. However, it was originally just a way to make the middle of winter a bit more pleasant. That's why symbols such as pine trees and mistletoe, which stay green all through the cold, are used. It is also why the focus of the holiday is on remembering people who might be having a harder time surviving. It is also a time to remember the strength we have in our families.

Remember, when Christianity ruled the world, it was called the Dark Ages.

Answer 6

every Christian "holiday" (Easter, Christmas etc) has it's roots in pagan beliefs, the church adopted all those holidays in the hope of making themselves more appealing to the pagan masses. They used to do all sorts of odd things back then (burning witches etc) but times change, they don't do those things anymore, and the winter solstice is also about celebrating the coming of the lighter nights. I don't practise any religion myself, but I do know that there are many things about the Christian church that stem from the old pagan religions.

Answer 7

Oh dear oh dear,you pick one meaning out of many and not one that was actually a regular thing done in the manner wikipedia put it.
What it actually means is the time the sun god goes to rest whilst the darkness takes over,this is about fertility and giving thanks for the harvest and life etc,this is the time we rest the ground and ourselves before the sun god returns to provide us with food etc,a very loose and brief description but one never the less,you just put all that crap down to cause trouble as usual...oh and if jesus existed which he didn't he couldnot of been born anywhere near yule you fool...go on try harder next time and maybe you will come up with a lucid and rational argument rather than foisting your immature rambling on people superior in intelligence.....

Answer 8

Right.

Some R&Sers tend to make a big deal out of the fact that the Church "baptized" the pagan winter holiday, and made it the Christian day of the celebration of Jesus's brith. Note: nobody ever said it WAS the exact date of Jesus's birth. Even back then, they knew that nobody knew the exact date. It was chosen as the day the Church would celebrate His birth, hoping to make the Church more appealing to pagans, who were already celebrating winter solstice.

I think that's kinda wise. Now, at the darkest time of year, we have our own lights that we plug in and light to shine through our natural darkess. They remind of us the Light that came to us in Jesus.

Think of all the people with the so-called SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder, who need extra light to keep from getting 'sad' during the winter months: bright lights and festive activities can only help them till the sun comes back full force.

Kinda cool.

Answer 9

maximum Wiccans rejoice the rebirth of the God, who dies at Halloween, if i'm no longer wrong. there is dissimilar mirthmaking and evergreen decorations. There are not any set a thank you to rejoice Sabbats interior the Wiccan faith; it varies by ability of custom, and by ability of the coven. some traditions, like the Alexandrian custom, whose public area e book of Shadows you will get on Google, have memories with regard to the o.ok.King and the Holly King. The Holly King policies throughout fall and iciness till he gets defeated interior the the spring by ability of the o.ok.King, who reigns till fall returned. there is likewise stuff with regard to the rebirth of the solar.

Answer 10

I have Seasonal Affective Disorder.
I celebrate the lengthening of daylight.