![]() ![]() Face masks are mandatory, and testing is encouraged. ![]() The English Heritage Society cautions that could be subject to change depending on the most recent health guidelines as the Omicron variant continues to rapidly spread. The in-person sunrise gathering was canceled in 2020, but it is being held this year. On the winter solstice, visitors traditionally have had opportunity to enter the towering, mysterious stone circle for a sunrise ceremony run by local pagan and druid groups. The UK’s most famous site for solstice celebrations is Stonehenge. Oh, the glories of prepandemic times! A choir sings at Stonehenge to mark the winter solstice before words such as Covid and Omicron joined everyday vocabulary. Dumplings are usually eaten to celebrate in some East Asian cultures. Dongzhi marks the return yang – and the slow ascendance of light and warmth. Yin represents darkness and cold and stillness, thus the longest day of winter. They thought this was the apex of yin (from Chinese medicine theory). The name translates roughly as “extreme of winter.” The Dongzhi Winter Solstice Festival has its roots in ancient Chinese culture. It’s not just ancient Europeans who marked the annual occasion. Saturnalia continued into the third and fourth centuries AD.Īs the Roman Empire came under Christian influence and eventual rule, some of the festival’s customs were melded into celebrations surrounding Christmas and the New Year. The people enjoyed carnival-like festivities resembling modern Mardi Gras celebrations and even delayed their war-making. It honored Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture. In Ancient Rome, Saturnalia began on December 17 and lasted for seven days. Newgrange, a prehistoric monument built in Ireland around 3200 BC, is associated with the Alban Arthan festival. ![]() Part of Druidic traditions, the winter solstice is considered a time of death and rebirth. It might be the oldest seasonal festival of humankind. In the Welsh language, “Alban Arthan” means for “Light of Winter,” according to the Farmers’ Almanac. ![]()
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