Happy Winter Solstice!

muhammad_isa

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To all who observe, happy winter Solstice!

I observe by default. I'm not a miserable old *** ;)
In fact, it is the only day of the year which has no public transport, here in the UK.
"Bank holidays" are not what they were, but Christmas day is still Christmas day.

PS. ..oh .. and Happy hols to you too :)
 

Cino

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A year has passed... again, happy winter solstice! With a rare Jupiter/Saturn conjunction to top things off!

Saturn-Jupiter-Great-Conjunction-2020-9bda5bb.jpg
 

Miken

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A year has passed... again, happy winter solstice! With a rare Jupiter/Saturn conjunction to top things off!

Saturn-Jupiter-Great-Conjunction-2020-9bda5bb.jpg

Loved that Christmas Star! I recall the Jupiter/Saturn triple conjunction of 1981 with the middle of the three being right next to a Full Moon. It was a chilly night in February but very clear, making for a memorable sight for an astronomy buff like me.
 

Miken

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As the days get longer...we enter winter...momentum is a thing!

That's the first thing I thought of too. :D

The old Roman calendar, traditionally ascribed to Numa Pompilius, originally had the year start on the Winter Solstice. This calendar had Leap Years but not the century rule, which skipped a leap year three centuries out of four, a better approximation of the actual length of a solar year. When Julius Caesar commissioned the Greek-Egyptian astronomer Sosigenes to revise the old calendar, which simply neglected having dates for the 60 days before the Winter Solstice (who needs winter?), it was discovered that the Solstice was now on December 25 instead of January 1. This was because of the slight inaccuracy happening over the centuries with the old calendar. December 25 then became the new traditional Solstice. Centuries later, in the mid 4th century CE, the date got assigned to Christmas.
 

Nicholas Weeks

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Theosophist & Mystic G. de Purucker on this sacred time:

https://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/4sacsea/4sacsea1.htm

How it begins:

There are four turning points of the year: the solstices of winter and summer, and the equinoxes of the spring and of the autumn. The cycle of the year among the ancient peoples was always considered to be a symbol of the life of man or, indeed, of the life of the universe. Birth at the Winter Solstice, the beginning of the year; adolescence — trials and their conquest — at the Spring Equinox; adulthood, full-blown strength and power, at the Summer Solstice, representing a period of initiation when the Great Renunciation is made; and then closing with the Autumnal Equinox, the period of the Great Passing.
 

Cino

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Wishing all those who celebrate a happy winter solstice!
 

Thomas

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Yay! Summer's a comin', and Spring is on the way, the days are getting longer!

Sorry to be such a dinosaur, but I'm having a large Scotch. Or it might be an Irish ... I'm undecided!
 

Thomas

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Solstice challenge – just for fun – finish this little ditty:

Summer is a'comin',
and Spring is on the way.
The days are getting longer,
...
 
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