Today is the Winter Solistice!

Today is the winter solstice. The sun has halted its northerly trek and is headed back toward the equator for the spring equinox. Atheists, what are you doing in celebration today? ;-) And what do you do on the Summer Solstice (June 24th)? Why celebrate one rather than the other? And why even do it when we no longer worship the sun? I just celebrate having family and friends during this season.

7 comments:

Leah said...

The same reason I celebrate anything: because it's fun.

I love the winter solstice because it means the worst is over as far as the short daylight hours. For the summer solstice, we like to camp out in the backyard and let the kids stay up until it's dark, which in our part of the U.S. is around 11pm.

Unknown said...

Is it an excuse to tip a few adult beverages down my gullet? Then I'm all for celebrating! In Sweden, Midsommar's is a huge festival of food, drink, and sex, so I think maybe Winter Solistice should be the same!

Anonymous said...

I'm enjoying the snow that's still on the ground and the lack of sweltering heat, insects and relentless light. I'm happy to know I still have several months before these start to become a problem again.

As for celebrating, it's all about goodwill, peace and kindness for me. I don't need a religion to want these things or think they're good. Sure I want them every day, but I like to keep using this time of year for special celebration even though I'm past all the religious parts.

Piratefish said...

As an atheist I'll just murder a dozen people in cold blood, have indiscriminate sex orgies with a group of other atheists, perform some human sacrifices, and then burn down my neighbors' houses after stealing their stuff.

Cheers and happy holidays! :)

Piero said...

As an inhabitant of the Southern hemisphere, I can tell you that celebrating Christmas during the summer solstice is a pain in the neck. Everything happens in December: final exams, Christmas shopping, start of the holidays, etc. And we don't get any comic relief during the dreary winter months.

Glen Mark Martin said...

Don't you mean that the sun has halted it's southerly trek?

Anonymous said...

Glen Mark, Isn't this a correct description of the sun?