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Articles of interest about mo'time, the blogosphere, culture and society

Friday, 24 December 2004

I usually like to post something about seasonal changes, like the winter solstice, and connect it to the various holidays celebrated around the world and throughout history. But somehow I just cruised through the solstice this year without realizing it. Ooops. So, let me rectify the situation:

On Dec 21, 2004 at 12:41 GMT, the Sun was directly above the Tropic of Capricorn. Depending on whether you are in the southern or northern hemisphere, you will call this the summer or winter solstice, a day widely recognized as the first day of the new season.

In many cultures there are holidays and rituals associated with this day. The solstice (from the Latin solstitium, standing still sun) is the day of the Earth's maximum tilt either to or away from the sun, depending on the hemisphere.

The wikipedia, my favorite first stop for many kinds of research, has complete entries with lots of links for these keywords: solstice, Christmas and Yule.

Speaking of Yule, following the links I came upon this Icelandic site explaining their Yule traditions including this recipe for Laufabraud (Leaf Bread) which does not include leaves.

This essay about the winter holidays has a lot of material explaining the origins of seasonal celebrations in an even wider selection of cultures.

Happy reading and happy holidays to you all.