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Earth’s Longest Night: Myth And Mystery Of The Winter Solstice
Mysterious Universe
It’s that most wonderful time of the year, as singer Andy Williams famously reminded us through his pop-holiday caroling. More specifically, it coincides with the arrival of winter, and the ancient celebration that surrounds the year’s shortest day, and thus, it’s longest night.
Happy Winter Solstice, in other words.
This year, based on the ever-slowing of Earth’s rotation, it has been reported that December 21 may be the longest night in our planet’s history; however, due to other influences on what is Earth’s longest night annually (namely those geological in nature, the longest night in our history actually more likely happened in 1912.
Nonetheless, with every passing year, the length of a day generally does increase by about 15 to 25 millionths of a second–barely discernible, but nonetheless significant. Especially since this historic day of passage into the winter season was recognized as being such long ago, back in the ancient days of yore in which one popular term for the solstice–yule–had its origins.
Though truly, the term is probably derived from the Old Norse jól, which signified the 12-day winter celebration from which the famous “Twelve Days of Christmas” was also derived. It’s no secret that many Christian hallmarks of the holiday season actually have their roots in hǣthen or, more proper in modern-speak, pagan traditions in this way.
The holdovers from ancient times that still adorn our entry into the winter season are indeed fascinating. Greater, perhaps, than our projections of reindeer and the rosy-cheeked Father Christmas are the more mysterious allusions to life and death itself, and to the general inevitability of change, which were encapsulated within the passage of the seasons by the ancient mind of man. These traditions are reflected in the verse of medieval writers, such as the poem “I Have News For You,” dating back to the 9th century, one that is likely of Irish origin:
Reposted with permission
