We Are More the Same than Different

WE ARE MORE THE SAME THAN DIFFERENT 

 

While politicians, hate groups, and religious

The first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere is marked by the winter solstice, which occurs on Tuesday, December 21, 2021, at 10:59 A.M. EST. 

At this time, the Sun will be the farthest from the celestial equator, the imaginary projection of the Earth’s equator on the heavens above, and the northern hemisphere will experience the longest night of the year.

This has been a powerful time throughout the ages. Known as Yule in the pagan cultures of old Europe, the Winter Solstice has been a time of contemplation and celebration for religions and cultures of the world.

Because the Earth is tilted on its axis in space, this is the time when the Sun is the farthest south in the sky that it gets during the year in the North. The day is very short, and the beginning of Winter is upon us. In an age not so long passed, when we were intimately aware of our connections to this planet and our dependence upon the Sun for light and life, this time of year was recognized for its power.

How many of you in the Northern Hemisphere have noticed that since the Summer Solstice on June 21, the Sun has, each day, risen a little farther to the south of east and has remained in the sky a few minutes less? The days have been getting shorter and shorter until on Yule, the Winter Solstice, we experience the shortest day of the year. Recognition of this time of year can be a powerful healing and unifying tool for how the ancient peoples of the Earth felt as they observed that the Sun, the orb that gives us heat and light, kept getting lower and lower in the sky and the days kept getting shorter. 

The fear must have arisen that the night would get longer and longer and that the Sun would eventually disappear completely. What could they do but surrender to this fear and prepare themselves for the Winter. They gathered food, they made their families as safe and warm as they possibly could, and reflected on the bounty of the past harvest and the joys that might be taken away.

These people must have felt that they were receiving the incredible gift of life when the Sun began journeying higher and higher and the days got longer and longer as Winter faded. Eventually, this time of year became a part of the Wheel of the Year, the earthly representation of the cycle of life, a time to slow down, reflect, appreciate the bounty of the harvest, and to appreciate the need for death - the darkness - as well as life.

While the dominant holiday offered by the media is the Christian celebration of Christmas, this season is not just defined by the birth of Jesus. There are a wide variety of faiths and cultures who celebrate also around this time of year. In fact, the day for the birth of Christ was chosen to be around this time of year because of the pagan and Roman celebrations of rebirth. Some historical records indicate that Jesus' birth may have occurred in the year 4 or 6 B.C., but the exact date is unknown. Although historians cannot provide the date, they are certain it was not during the winter solstice. This is a powerful time of year to reflect on the assumptions that pervade and define our lives.

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth
"find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.
There is something infinitely healing in the
repeated refrains of nature— the assurance
that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter."
-- Rachel Carson

"Time is Too slow for those who wait,
Too swift for those who fear,
Too long for those who grieve,
Too short for those who rejoice.

But for those who love, time is not."
-- Henry Van Dyke

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven -A time to give birth, and a time to die;A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.”

-- Ecclesiastes, 3:1-2.

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zealots try to convince the world that cultural differences irreparably separate us from one another and, in fact, are grounds for war, the Earth has quietly, as it has done for billions of years, passed into a Solstice.  This This is an important time, when the night is the longest in the Northern Hemisphere and the day is the longest in the Southern Hemisphere. The solstice is celebrated by every culture on Earth since the dawn of time.

The ancient Celts worshiped evergreen trees as symbols of the universe. The trees were considered sacred because they did not die from year to year as other (deciduous) trees did. Their lush greenery symbol for the hope that the Sun would return. 

They decorated the trees with all the images of the things they hoped the coming year would bring. It is believed that trees and wreaths have been part of the season’s celebrations for at least 4,000 years.

The stories of many Native American tribes contain a number of references to solstice celebrations.

Buddhists celebrate Bodhi Day this time of year, a time honoring the day in 596 BCE, when the Buddha achieved enlightenment, escaping the endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth through reincarnation.

The The holiest period in the Islamic year occurs around this time. It honors the lunar month in which the Qur’an was revealed by God to humanity. According to the Muslim Students Association (MSA) at the University of Southern California, the Qur'an ("Qor-Ann") is a message from Allah to humanity. According to the MSA, the Qur’an “was transmitted to us in a chain starting from the Almighty Himself to the angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad. This message was given to the Prophet in pieces over a period spanning approximately 23 years (610 CE to 622 CE). The Prophet was 40 years old whenthe Qur'an began to be revealed to him, and he was 63 when the revelation was completed. The language of the original message was Arabic, but it has been translated into many other languages.” God decreed that this Book would be the last Book.

Ramadan is the “host month for the inauguration of the final revelation” of the Qur’an. While not tied directly to the solstice, it is interesting that this holiest of months occurs around the time of year when the balance of darkness and light are examined on Earth because of our journey around the Su

Jews celebrate Chanukah at this time of year. While it is not a major holiday in the Jewish tradition, this eight day festival commemorates the recapture of the sacred Temple in Jerusalem in 165 B.C. by a small band of warriors led by Judah the Maccabee. The temple had been taken by Syrian Greeks who were using it for their own rituals. Inside the temple, a flame was supposed to eternally burn, but the Syrians had desecrated the temple and used all but a one-day supply of oil for the flame by the time it was recaptured. By some miracle, the flame burned for eight days on that oil, until a new supply could be found. The eight-candle menorah symbolizes those eight days, the triumph of light over darkness - which is what the winter solstice is all about.

These themes, observed in many religions during this time of year, all relate to the balance of light and darkness in our lives. It may be no coincidence that these holy days from religions that, on the surface, seem so different, all occur around the time of the winter solstice.

   

The celebrations many of us get wrapped up in have little to do with honoring the Earth or our culture. Rather, the holidays present a huge challenge to the environment, our pocketbooks, and our health. The city of Raleigh, North Carlolina reported at their website that, "In the U.S. annual trash from gift-wrap and shopping bags totals 4 million tons. More than 38,000 miles of ribbon is thrown out each year. That is enough to tie a bow around the Earth and have 7,000 miles of ribbon leftover for streamers."

They go on to report that "Americans send 1.9 billion Christmas cards. The amount of cards sold during the holiday season would fill a football field 10 stories high and requires the harvesting of nearly 300,000 trees." 

It feels so hard to decide what is right and what is wrong, what is death and what is life, and whether or not to worry about global warming or deforestation. I think it feels so difficult because for generations, we have been taught not to feel, taught instead to feel apart from the cycles of the Earth. Maybe it's not so hard after all. Maybe it's as simple as noticing the shortest day and night of the year - and knowing that the day will get longer and the darkness will recede.

Following the seasonal cycles, the rhythms of the Earth, and the web of life can be powerful medicine. Whatever culture you are from and whatever religion you practice, reflect upon its relationship to the Earth and celebrate the common themes we all share.

Happy holidays from my family to yours.


Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.
Ghostwriter
www.iwriteyourbooks.com

RESOURCES


1. Familiarize yourself with the Wheel of the Year and see the intimate connections that all faiths and cultures have a: http://www.wheeloftheyear.com/

2. Get help changing your dietary habits from EarthSave: http://www.earthsave.org/

3. Check out Food Not Bombs at: https://foodnotbombs.net/ and learn how to feed the hungry in your community.

4. Visit the Muslim Advocates at https://muslimadvocates.org/

5.  Find out who your elected representatives are and e-mail them. Tell them that wanting peace is not being unpatriotic. You can find them at https://www.congress.gov/members

6. Dig deep into the things you think you know or the things you want to know more about. Type the ideas  that interest you into an Internet search engine and see where it leads you.