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Ancient cultures, so many of them dependent upon agriculture, celebrated major festivals on or around the day of the Winter Solstice.
We may no longer know it, but the majority of festivals mark the seasonal cycle. In the old days, farmers relied on the festival calendar to tell them when to plant, harvest, and store food for winter. The slow death of nature drew attention to the human dead. As daylight diminished, the ancient peoples wondered: would the sun return, would there ever come another Spring?
The pivotal moment was the Winter Solstice. It is the shortest day of the year, when the arc of the sun against the sky is the lowest. To help the sun ascend again, most ancient cultures devised rituals and ceremonies.
It is not clear when humans realized what the solstice was and when it occurred. The Neolithic grave at Newgrange in Ireland, built c. 3200 BC (thus predating Stonehenge 3 I, dated to c. 2600 BC) is a solstice timekeeper: at dawn on the day of the Winter Solstice, the sunlight enters the central chamber through a special opening. It must have been a day of significant rituals.
Around 2000 BC, the Ancient Mesopotamians marked the Winter Solstice with a festival celebrating their god Marduk’s victory over darkness. The Egyptians welcomed Ra’s triumph over death. With the Daygan festival, the Persian Zoroastrians dedicated the day after the Solstice to Ahura Mazda, the Lord of Wisdom.
In the Ancient Greek Festival of Lenaea, wild women tore the harvest god Dionysus to pieces and ate him, then presided over his rebirth. On the Winter Solstice the Romans honored Saturn, the God of farming, with the Saturnalia. They also celebrated “Dies Natalis Invicti Solis”, the birthday of the invincible Sun, which came to Rome via Syria.
