Misplaced Pages

#942057

32-424: [REDACTED] This article includes a list of references , related reading , or external links , but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations . Please help improve this article by introducing more precise citations. ( April 2011 ) ( Learn how and when to remove this message ) Soyal is the winter solstice ceremony of

64-659: A New Year cleaning tradition), and "reversal" (as in Saturnalia 's slave and master reversals). Some important Neolithic and early Bronze Age archaeological sites in Europe are associated with the winter solstice, such as Stonehenge in England and Newgrange in Ireland. The primary axes of both of these monuments seem to have been carefully aligned on a sight-line pointing to the winter solstice sunrise (Newgrange) and

96-518: A certain point around that time. The earliest sunset and latest sunrise dates differ from winter solstice, however, and these depend on latitude, due to the variation in the solar day throughout the year caused by the Earth's elliptical orbit (see earliest and latest sunrise and sunset ). Korochun Max Vasmer derived the name of the holiday from the Proto-Slavic *korčunŭ , which

128-531: Is in turn derived from the verb *korčati , meaning to step forward . Gustav Weigand , Alexandru Cihac and Alexandru Philippide offer a similar Slavic etymology , based on kratŭkŭ ( curt , short ) or kračati ( to make steps ). On the other hand, Hugo Schuchardt , Vatroslav Jagić , and Luka Pintar proposed a Romanian origin of the word, as does also the Romanian Etymological Dictionary , tracing its roots back to

160-462: Is put to burn in the fire ( zjarri ) of the hearth ( vatër ) on the night of a winter celebration that falls after the return of the Sun for summer (after the winter solstice), sometimes on the night of Kërshëndella on December 24 ( Christmas Eve ), sometimes on the night of kolendra , or sometimes on New Year's Day or on any other occasion aound the same period, a tradition that is originally related to

192-407: Is resurrected and becomes the new sun, Koleda . Modern scholars tend to associate this holiday with ancestor worship . On this day, Western Slavs lit fires at cemeteries to keep their loved ones warm, and organized feasts to honor the dead and keep them fed. They also lit wooden logs at local crossroads. In some Slavic languages , the word came to denote unexpected death of a young person and

224-608: Is the December solstice (December 21, December 22, or December 23) and in the Southern Hemisphere, this is the June solstice (June 20, June 21, or June 22). Although the winter solstice itself lasts only a moment, the term also refers to the day on which it occurs. The term midwinter is also used synonymously with the winter solstice, although it carries other meanings as well. Traditionally, in many temperate regions,

256-584: The Hindu calendar , in reference to deity Surya (sun). It is observed each year in January. It marks the first day of Sun's transit into Makara (Capricorn) , marking the end of the month with the winter solstice and the start of longer days. Iranian people celebrate the night of the Northern Hemisphere's winter solstice as, " Yalda night ", which is known to be the "longest and darkest night of

288-711: The Latin creatio,-nis . However, most probably the Romanian word, as well as the Hungarian, are loanwords with Slavic roots . Koročun or Kračun was a pagan Slavic holiday. It was considered the day when the Black God and other spirits associated with decay and darkness were most potent. The first recorded usage of the term was in 1143, when the author of the Novgorod First Chronicle referred to

320-635: The Zuni and Hopi peoples held December 21, the shortest day of the year. Participants ceremonially bring the sun back from its long slumber, mark the beginning of another cycle of the Wheel of the Year , and work on purification. Pahos prayer sticks are made prior to the Soyal ceremony, to bless all the community, including homes, animals, and plants. The sacred underground kiva chambers are ritually opened to mark

352-632: The talmudic hypothesis that Adam first established the tradition of fasting before the winter solstice , and rejoicing afterward, which festival later developed into the Roman Saturnalia and Kalendae . When the First Man saw that the day was continuously shortening, he said, "Woe is me! Because I have sinned, the world darkens around me, and returns to formlessless and void. This is the death to which Heaven has sentenced me!" He decided to spend eight days in fasting and prayer. When he saw

SECTION 10

#1732772838943

384-672: The Christian Haakon had moved Yule from "midwinter" and aligned it with the Christian Christmas celebration. Historically, this has made some scholars believe that Yule originally was a sun festival on the winter solstice. Modern scholars generally do not believe this, as midwinter in medieval Iceland was a date about four weeks after the solstice. During the Christianisation of the Germanic peoples , Yule

416-473: The Roman winter solstice festival marking the sun god's birthday ( Dies Natalis Solis Invicti ). According to C. Philipp E. Nothaft, a professor at Trinity College Dublin , though this theory "is nowadays used as the default explanation for the choice of 25 December as Christ's birthday, few advocates of this theory seem to be aware of how paltry the available evidence actually is." In Anglo-Saxon England

448-537: The Sun; the gradual waning of daylight hours is reversed and begins to grow again. Some ancient monuments such as Newgrange , Stonehenge , Cahokia Woodhenge , and Ahu Tongariki are aligned with the sunrise or sunset on the winter solstice. There is evidence that the winter solstice was deemed an important moment of the annual cycle for some cultures as far back as the Neolithic (New Stone Age). Astronomical events were often used to guide farming activities, such as

480-542: The United States Hidden categories: Articles lacking in-text citations from April 2011 All articles lacking in-text citations Winter solstice The winter solstice , also called the hibernal solstice , occurs when either of Earth 's poles reaches its maximum tilt away from the Sun . This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere ( Northern and Southern ). For that hemisphere,

512-404: The angular diameter of the Sun. Observing that it occurred within a two-day period is easier, requiring an observation precision of only about 1/16 of the angular diameter of the Sun. Thus, many observations are of the day of the solstice rather than the instant. This is often done by observing sunrise and sunset or using an astronomically aligned instrument that allows a ray of light to be cast on

544-1811: The beginning of the Kachina season. Sources [ edit ] Bahti, Tom. "Southwestern Indian Ceremonials", KC Publications, 1970, p36-40. External links [ edit ] Soyal: A Celebration of New Life Soyal Ceremony: Hopi Kachinas Dance at Winter Solstice v t e Winter solstice and midwinter festivals Africa Goru : Mali ( Dogon ) Dzon'ku Nu : West Africa ( Papaws ) Americas Inti Raymi °: Peru ( Inca ) Jonkonnu °: Caribbean ° (African American) Soyal : US ( Zuni , Hopi ) We Tripantu : Chile ( Mapuche ) Asia Amaterasu : Japan Choimus Deygān, Maidyarem °: ( Zoroastrian ) Dōngzhì, Tōji : ( East Asian ) Lohri , Pongal , Makar Sankranti °: India ( Hindu ) Sanghamitta Day : Sri Lanka ( Buddhist ) Şeva Zistanê : ( Kurdish ) Yalda : Iran ( Persian ) Europe Beiwe : ( Saami ) Brumalia : Ancient Greece Christmas : Roman Empire° ( Christian ) Dies Natalis Solis Invicti : Roman Empire Hogmanay °: Scotland Korochun °: ( Slavs ) Mōdraniht : England ( Anglo-Saxon ) Montol Festival , Mummer's Day °: Cornwall ( Celts ) Saturnalia : Rome Wren's Day °: Ireland, Isle of Man, Wales ( Celts ) Yule °: ( Germanic ) Ziemassvētki : Baltic ( Romuva ) Oceania Matariki °: New Zealand ( Māori ) † dagger indicates extinction. ° degree symbol indicates changes in date, name or location. ( ) indicate demographic Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Soyal&oldid=1128564161 " Categories : December observances Hopi culture Winter festivals in

576-586: The birthday of Sol Invictus or the 'Invincible Sun'. Gary Forsythe, Professor of Ancient History, says "This celebration would have formed a welcome addition to the seven-day period of the Saturnalia (December 17–23), Rome's most joyous holiday season since Republican times, characterized by parties, banquets, and exchanges of gifts". A widely-held theory is that the Church chose December 25 as Christ's birthday ( Dies Natalis Christi ) to appropriate

608-541: The cult of the Sun. In East Asia , the winter solstice has been celebrated as one of the Twenty-four Solar Terms , called Dongzhi (冬至) in Chinese . In Japan , in order not to catch cold in the winter, there is a custom to soak oneself in a yuzu hot bath ( Japanese : 柚子湯 = Yuzuyu). Makara Sankranti, also known as Makara Sankrānti ( Sanskrit : मकर संक्रांति) or Maghi, is a festival day in

640-422: The fire, lighting pine trees at night, luck divination tests with crackling in the fire or with coins in ritual bread, making and consuming ritual foods, performing various magical ritualistic actions in livestock, fields, vineyards and orchards, and so on. Nata e Buzmit, " Yule log 's night", is celebrated between December 22 and January 6. Buzmi is a ritualistic piece of wood (or several pieces of wood) that

672-424: The mating of animals, the sowing of crops and the monitoring of winter reserves of food. The winter solstice was important because the people were economically dependent on monitoring the progress of the seasons. Starvation was common during the first months of the winter, January to April (northern hemisphere) or July to October (southern hemisphere). Livestock were slaughtered so they would not have to be fed during

SECTION 20

#1732772838943

704-489: The pagan rites that were practiced by Albanians to celebrate this festivity, but without success. The old rites of this festivity were accompanied by collective fires ( zjarre ) based on the house, kinship or neighborhood, a practice performed in order to give strength to the Sun according to the old beliefs. The rites related to the cult of vegetation, which expressed the desire for increased production in agriculture and animal husbandry, were accompanied by animal sacrifices to

736-461: The precise timing of its occurrence is now public knowledge. The precise instant of the solstice cannot be directly detected (by definition, people cannot observe that an object has stopped moving until it is later observed that it has not moved further from the preceding spot, or that it has moved in the opposite direction). To be precise to a single day, observers must be able to view a change in azimuth or elevation less than or equal to about 1/60 of

768-412: The winter solstice is the day with the shortest period of daylight and longest night of the year, and when the Sun is at its lowest daily maximum elevation in the sky. Each polar region experiences continuous darkness or twilight around its winter solstice. The opposite event is the summer solstice . The winter solstice occurs during the hemisphere's winter . In the Northern Hemisphere, this

800-542: The winter solstice as "Koročun". It was celebrated by pagan Slavs on December 21 , the longest night of the year and the night of the winter solstice . On this night, Hors , symbolizing old sun, becomes smaller as the days become shorter in the Northern Hemisphere , and dies on December 22, the winter solstice. It is said to be defeated by the dark and evil powers of the Black God. On December 23, Hors

832-402: The winter solstice is seen as the middle of winter; although today in some countries and calendars it is seen as the beginning of winter. Other names are the "extreme of winter" ( Dongzhi ), or the "shortest day". Since prehistory, the winter solstice has been a significant time of year in many cultures and has been marked by festivals and rites . It marked the symbolic death and rebirth of

864-470: The winter solstice sunset (Stonehenge). It is significant that at Stonehenge the Great Trilithon was oriented outwards from the middle of the monument, i.e. its smooth flat face was turned towards the midwinter Sun. In the ancient Roman calendar, December 25 was the date of the winter solstice. In AD 274, the emperor Aurelian made this the date of the festival Dies Natalis Solis Invicti ,

896-663: The winter solstice was generally deemed to be December 25, and in Old English , midwinter could mean both the winter solstice and Christmas . The North Germanic peoples celebrated a winter holiday called Yule . The Heimskringla , written in the 13th century by the Icelander Snorri Sturluson , describes a Yule feast hosted by the Norwegian king Haakon the Good (c. 920–961). According to Snorri,

928-589: The winter solstice, and he saw that the day was continuously lengthening, he said, "It is the order of the world!" He went and feasted for eight days. The following year, he feasted for both. He established them in Heaven's name, but they established them in the name of idolatry Although the instant of the solstice can be calculated, direct observation of the moment by visual perception is elusive. The Sun moves too slowly or appears to stand still (the meaning of "solstice"). However, by use of astronomical data tracking ,

960-493: The winter, so it was almost the only time of year when a plentiful supply of fresh meat was available. Because the winter solstice is the reversal of the Sun's apparent ebbing in the sky, in ancient times it was seen as the symbolic death and rebirth of the Sun or of a Sun god . In cultures which used cyclic calendars based on the winter solstice, the "year as reborn" was celebrated with reference to life-death-rebirth deities or "new beginnings" (such as Hogmanay 's redding ,

992-551: The year". Yalda night celebration, or as some call it "Shabe Chelleh" ("the 40th night"), is one of the oldest Iranian traditions that has been present in Persian culture from ancient times. In this night all the family gather together, usually at the house of the eldest, and celebrate it by eating, drinking and reciting poetry (esp. Hafez). Nuts, pomegranates and watermelons are particularly served during this festival. An Aggadic legend found in tractate Avodah Zarah 8a puts forth

Soyal - Misplaced Pages Continue

1024-621: Was incorporated into the Christmas celebrations and the term and its cognates remain used to refer to Christmas in modern Northern European languages such as English and Swedish. Albanian traditional festivities around the winter solstice celebrate the return of the Sun ( Dielli ) for summer and the lengthening of the days. The Albanian traditional rites during the winter solstice period are pagan, and very ancient. Albanologist Johann Georg von Hahn (1811 – 1869) reported that Christian clergy, during his time and before, have vigorously fought

#942057