Ancient History of Winter Solstice Traditions and Sites

The winter solstice, falling in December in the Northern hemisphere and June in the Southern hemisphere, is the shortest day and longest night of the year. The winter solstice, also referred to as ‘midwinter’ is associated with the idea of rebirth of both the sun and the new year, and after the shortest day, the days get a bit longer, and a bit brighter. The movement of the sun and the skies in general have been monitored by humanity for a long, long time, all around the world, especially since tracking the sun and the seasons was imperative for crop growth and agriculture.

We’re not entirely sure for just how long humans have recognised the winter solstice as a turning point, but we know it was important for heralding in the new sun or sun god for the next year. The concept of rebirth inspired the festive practice of role-reversal best seen in the festivities of Saturnalia in Rome where the role of slave and master would reverse and, earlier, in Mesopotamian civilizations. The solstice observances, celebrated around the globe and through history, all centred around similar themes including light conquering darkness, renewal, new life, and rebirth, when, after the shortest day and longest night of the year, the darkness would give way to the light of longer days and shorter nights.

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— CHAPTERS —
0:00​ Introduction
1:01 What is the Winter Solstice?
2:50 Winter Solstice Traditions and Sites
8:53 Outro

— WANT TO KNOW MORE? —

— WATCH NEXT —
The Norse Origins of Christmas Traditions
Saturnalia: the Jolliest Ancient Roman Festival!
What is Stonehenge? The Mysteries of the Neolithic Stone Circle

— ATTRIBUTIONS —

World History Encyclopedia

#wintersolstice #christmashistory #ancienthistory #stonehenge

[WorldHistoryEncyclopedia]

Have you ever participated in any ancient Winter Solstice celebrations like at Newgrange?

[Alcy-]

Fascinating topic. So many important traditions and ancient sites connected with the winter solstice.

[transmutationdotse]

Yuletide = Juletid = Christmas time :) I'm from Sweden. Thank you so much for this! Super great information!

[megalithicmaiden]

The oldest known winter solstice alignment is at Karahan Tepe in Turkey.

[rayzersun]

Plzzz do other Solstice and Equinox celebrations!!!

[tonyquah]

Informative Video.
Suggest you include how the Chinese celebrate it too, with Tang Yuan

[thefanone]

Wow who knew? Great job Kelly n teammates.

[ishmell]

Amazing video I was always curious about it since I was born on the solstice, this makes it feels important lol

[elizabethkrafnick]

I have and am getting ready to participate in a solstice spiral next week. It’s beautiful.

[aarone]

It is anazing; how many people asighn some super being to what nature does!

[Tekmirion]

Thank you for the wonderfull informations! Yeah! never been in any winter Solitice celebration but sure i am working on it and looking forward to it! After the rebuilding and programming of the Greek calendar next are the celebrations on the way! Happy Galaxia as it was in ancient Greece and is ending at the winter solstice and lets hope for the best for us all!

[jamesbreeden]

Christmas: On the 21st of December the Sun stops moving south. It is dead in the tomb for 3 days. On the morning of the 25th the Sun rises, where the three kings (belt of Orion) was the night before. The rising Sun has moved one degree north. This happens the same time every year. It is God's handy work. Blessings

[claudiodeugenio]

The video starts @2:52.
You're welcome!

[bionicmarx]

I'm some sort of appreciative, spectrum, and National Latin Scholar (in the U.S., a long time ago). You're left handed; it would be nice to make friends. I wish you the best on the solstice.
~marx

[topg]

You missed the Hindu/Indian festival of Makara Sankrānti which celebrates the Northwards journey of the Sun (Uttarāyaṇa), sadly its date has gotten shifted by 20 days due to following Sidereal Zodiac but it's still a Winter Solstice festival, Persian Yalda is another one that was missed

[debranelson]

The sun doesn't move but the earth does as it rotates on its axis at a tilt of 23.5 degrees while orbiting the sun.

[MacLeanClassFilms]

Thank you for sharing this detail of the Winter Solstice, I do however wish it had also discussed some of the ancient traditions around the globe beyond Europe & Egypt. There are some equally fascinating practices in other parts of the world. Noting those shared human experiences helps us see how connected we all truly are and that even without the kind of global community we have today through travel & technology, people of the ancient world developed connected beliefs and understandings about the world around them. For example, indigenous to North America, the Hopi tribe has the tradition of Soyal, the Mayan have some traditions that have since been combined with colonist traditions, in parts of China there is ritual around food tied to yin-yang... More, more, more of sharing the ancient global history. (And, if I can truly be Debbie Downer, since language matters, could we shift from saying slaves and masters to enslaved and enslavers, it's an easy shift with a big impact.)

[OnlineMD]

I gather the word SOLSTICE comes from Latin Solstitium. Sol=Sun and Stitium meaning stopped or stationary.

[certainwaycreation]

Yes, it's a pagan feast but since the church mission is to evangelize paganism, it's inorder the church planned her liturgical calendar to counter paganism.

[MindRiderFPV]

And then the Roman Empire stole it and imposed cristianity.