WINTER SOLSTICE! At 9:01 am it became officially winter, and the beginning of a new solar year.
In ancient indigenous cultures, the sun was used to keep time, and as a calendar. In modern times we use what is called “Day Centric”. We use the sun to designate our calendar, and what we do. In traditional cultures, “Night Centric” was used; meaning the moon and stars dictated time and navigation. Most of the understanding of the ancient people’s world, was in understanding the night sky. They also used winters instead of years. I like the idea of Night Centric… I need to study that to understand it and incorporate it.
The word “Solstice” means “when the sun stands still”. At that time, there is an equal amount of sunlight between the northern and southern hemispheres. It is true even for the extreme northern and southern latitudes; even though they are more - or less - light than at the equator, they are still equal to their opposites.
Winter Solstice in the beginning of a new year, and is celebrated by indigenous people all over the world, with various types and degrees of ceremony. Hundreds of years ago, and in some cultures still today, all fires in the community were extinguished. A new main fire was then built, and all hearths and fires were re-started from the new fire.
(I wish I had a fire pit so that I could build a celebratory fire. One of these days...)
The Indians of the Northern Great Plains built medicine wheels, some of the 5,000 years old or more. They have 28 spokes radiating out from a center cairn that align with the sunrises and sunsets of both the winter and summer solstices, as well as with specific stars and planets. Wheels have been built on every continent, including Australia! Since then, some of the starts and planets have moved, so the spokes no longer line up. They are all basically the same thing as Stonehenge!!
At Cahokia Mounds in East St. Louis, IL, there is a Woodhenge, that I have visited on the Autumnal Equinox, and there were people on Monk’s Mound, playing drums and flutes, and it was very spiritual. According to ancient cultures, “equinox” is when the sun is moving back home; or “rushing home to…”
When I get my native plant garden started, I will build a medicine wheel with a fire pit in the center!! I will be small by comparison, so I’m not sure if I’ll have enough room for 28 spokes, but I can have at lease 12 - one for each month -- OR enough for every full moon! I should have one for each of the Equinoxes too.
