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Tuxman:
Merry solstice, dear friends.

rjbull:
Of related interest:

BBC Radio 4: Beyond Belief, 21st Dec. 2015
Yule

December 21st - the shortest day in the year - is the day pagans across Europe are marking the Winter Solstice; an ancient festival, connected to the lowest position of the sun in the sky. It has been celebrated for millennia, and yet, its relationship to the relatively recent Christian celebration of Christmas is inseparable. It is no coincidence that a festival marking the 'rebirth' of the new sun in the sky comes just days before the celebration of the birth of Jesus, seen by Christians as the Son of God. How did this relationship develop? Where did many of the familiar customs we associate with Christmas come from?

Ernie Rea explores the pagan origins of Christmas with Ronald Hutton, professor of History at Bristol University; JJ Middleway, a celebrant and ritualist based in the Druid tradition; and the reverend Steve Hollinghurst, a Church of England vicar and author of 'New Age Paganism and Christian Mission'.
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Podcast available.

tomos:
Merry solstice, dear friends.
-Tuxman (December 22, 2015, 03:08 AM)
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You're late :p
nice to know though that the days will be getting longer from here on out (in the northern hemisphere at any rate).

tomos:
Of related interest:

BBC Radio 4: Beyond Belief, 21st Dec. 2015
-rjbull (December 22, 2015, 05:00 PM)
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thanks :up: will have a listen.
someone online was wishing a 'happy Lucia' lately which got me rooting -- it's a Christian saints day celebrated in Scandinavian countries on December the 13th, which apparently was the 21st before the calendar was changed:

Her feast once coincided with the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year before calendar reforms, so her feast day has become a festival of light.[4][5] -wikipedia
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I suspect it was always a festival of light...

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Lucy%27s_Day)

Tuxman:
You're late :p-tomos (December 22, 2015, 05:10 PM)
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Not in my timezone!

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