The Reason for the Season

(I’ve posted a version of this every year since 2005 over at my blog; it seemed like the day to share it.)

There is a reason that Mithras’ birthday was celebrated this time of year. A reason that Bacchus’ birthday, the Saturnalia, Jesus’ birthday, and the New Year come this time of year as well. For those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere, at 12:04 UT today (4:04 AM Pacific Standard Time) the Sun’s slow ebb reaches its nadir, and begins its slow return. For those of us who live in northern climes it is a not insignificant day; the sun will not rise today in Portland, Ore., until 7:48 AM and will have set by 4:30 PM, a meager eight hours and forty-two minutes of daylight. And Oregon is in the pink compared to, say, Stockholm, where the sunrise doesn’t come until 8:44 AM and sunset is already complete at 2:48 PM–just over six hours of daylight.

It is no wonder that millennia ago, our forebearers saw this day as especially meaningful — the moment at which the Sun began to make its triumphant return. Thus Mithras, the Sun God, was reborn on this day, to grow and prosper, rising until July, when he slowly began to wither and die. Thus the Son God, Jesus, has a story that, calendar be damned, fits well with the idea of Sol dying, and being resurrected. All of this has happened before, all of this will happen again, an infinite cycle, repeated infinitely — or as close to it as we humans can imagine.

And so today, we celebrate the day that is the progenitor of all our winter festivals, the Winter Solstice–and await again our planet’s rebirth into the light. Happy Solstice.