MARGINALIZATION (Different learners in Marginalized Group
Winter Solstice
1. December 21 st
The Science &
Mystery of the
Shortest Day of the
Year
2. The Earth is actually nearer the sun in January than it
is in June -- by three million miles. What causes the
seasons is something completely different.
The Earth leans slightly on its axis like a spinning top
frozen in one off-kilter position. Astronomers have
pinpointed the precise angle of the tilt at 23 degrees
and 27 minutes off the perpendicular to the plane
of orbit.
This planetary pose is what causes the variety of our
climate; all the drama and poetry of our seasons,
since it determines how many hours and minutes
each hemisphere receives precious sunlight.
5. Solstice
Solstice literally means “Sun Stands Still.”
For a few days around the time of the
winter solstice, Dec. 19th – 23rd, if viewed
at the same time each day, the sun
appears to stand still in the sky and its
elevation does not seem to change.
6. Will the sun come back?
Ancient people feared that the failing light of the
sun meant that it would never return unless
humans intervened with anxious vigil or
celebrations. Many cultures performed
solstice ceremonies. The sun’s warmth and
growing powers were seen as key to their
survival. As the sun began to return and
appear higher in the sky, they rejoiced.
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8. Ancient Egypt
In ancient Egypt, the sun god Ra was the
dominant figure among the high gods. In the
myth relating the voyage of the sun god over
the heavenly ocean, the sun sets out as the
young god Kheper; appears at noon in the
zenith as the full-grown sun, Re; and arrives
in the evening at the western region in the
shape of the old sun god, Atum.
10. Ancient India
The sun was one of the most popular deities
among the Indo-European peoples and was
a symbol of divine power to them. Surya is
glorified in the Vedic hymns of ancient India
as an all-seeing god who observes both good
and evil actions. He expels not only darkness
but also evil dreams and diseases.
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12. The Indo-European character of sun
worship is also seen in the conception
of the solar deity, drawn in his carriage,
generally by four white horses, common
to many Indo-European peoples, and
recurring in Indo-Iranian, Greco-
Roman, and Scandinavian mythology.
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14. Feast of Sol Invictus
During the later periods of Roman history, sun
worship gained in importance and ultimately
led to what has been called a “solar
monotheism.” The feast of Sol Invictus
(Unconquered Sun) on December 25 was
celebrated with great joy, and eventually this
date was taken over by the Christians as
Christmas, the birthday of Christ.
16. The Sun Dance: Great Plains
Indians
The Sun Dance is almost always performed near the
time of the summer solstice. Most Sun Dances
begin with the erection of a circular lodge or corral
around a solemnly chosen and cut central pole.
During the next 3 or 4 days, periods of dancing,
accompanied by singing, drumming, or whistling,
are interspersed with periods of rest and
meditation. Dancers do not eat or drink during the
3 or 4 days of the dance, although some do chew
on roots to keep their mouths moist. Toward the
end of the Sun Dance, participants experience
visions and receive blessings.
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18. Central and South America
In the Pre-Columbian civilizations of Mexico
and Peru, sun worship was a prominent
feature. In Aztec religion extensive human
sacrifice was demanded by the sun gods
Huitzilopochtli and Tezcatlipoca. In both
Mexican and Peruvian ancient religion, the
Sun occupied an important place in myth
and ritual.
21. Strange Structures
Ancient people’s customs and beliefs
surrounding the Solstices and Sun Worship
are reflected in the strange buildings and
monuments, which they left behind.
22. The Ancients: Huge Efforts to
Observe the Solstices
An astounding array of ancient cultures built
their greatest architectures -- tombs, temples,
cairns and sacred observatories -- so that they
aligned with the solstices and equinoxes.
Many of us know that Stonehenge is a
perfect marker of both the Winter and the
Summer solstices.
23. Hundreds of other megalithic structures
throughout Europe are oriented to the
solstices and the equinoxes. The blossoming
field of archaeoastronomy studies such
sacred sites in the Americas, Asia, Indonesia,
and the Middle East. Recent research into
the medieval Great Zimbabwe in sub-
Saharan Africa (also known as the "African
Stonehenge") indicates a similar purpose.
24. Great Zimbabwe
The arrangement of the walls, the complicated
symbols on stone monoliths and the position of a
tall tower suggest that medieval Zimbabweans used
the complex to track the moon, sun, planets and
stars for centuries.
Several of the stone monoliths, for example, line up
with certain bright stars in the constellation Orion
as they rise on the morning of the shortest day of
the year, the winter solstice.
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27. Sun Dagger of Chaco Canyon,
New Mexico
In North America, one of the most famous
such sites is the Sun Dagger of Chaco
Canyon, New Mexico, built a thousand years
ago by the Chacoans, ancestors of the
Pueblo people. Even cultures that followed a
moon-based calendar seemed also to
understand the importance of these sun-
facing seasonal turning points.
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31. Newgrange, Ireland
At Newgrange in Ireland a wonderful event takes
place for a few days around the winter solstice each
year, the passage and chamber of the 5000 year old
monument are illuminated by the winter solstice
sunrise. A shaft of sunlight shines through the roof
box over the entrance and penetrates the passage to
light up the chamber. The dramatic event lasts for
17 minutes at dawn from the 19th to the 23rd of
December.
32. Newgrange, a beautiful megalithic site in
Ireland is a huge circular stone structure,
estimated to be 5,000 years old, older by
centuries than Stonehenge, and older than
the Egyptian pyramids! It was built to receive
a shaft of sunlight deep into its central
chamber at dawn on winter solstice.
The light illuminates a stone basin below
intricate carvings -- spirals, eye shapes, solar
discs. Although not much is known about
how Newgrange was used by its builders,
marking the solstice was obviously of
tremendous spiritual import to them.
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35. The Megalithic Passage Tomb at Newgrange
was built about 3200 BC. The kidney
shaped mound covers an area of over one
acre and is surrounded by 97 kerbstones,
some of which are richly decorated with
megalithic art. The 19 metre long inner
passage leads to a cruciform chamber with a
corbelled roof. It is estimated that the
construction of the Passage Tomb at
Newgrange would have taken a work force of
300 at least 20 years.
