Winter Solstice Star Ceremony

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Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year, the longest night. In the northern hemisphere this occurs December 20, 21, 22 or even the 23rd, varying from year to year, dependent upon the elliptical path of the Earth around our Sun. Throughout the cultures of the northern world the Winter Solstice is recognized as a powerful time, a time that commands the respect of acknowledgment and celebration. Christmas is, of course, one such holiday. Yule and Saturnalia provide historic origins for the motifs integrated in the celebration of the season in the form of the Yule Log and decking the halls with boughs of holly, feasting and family gatherings. Mithraic rites of the birth of the Year-God recognize December 25th as the holy day of renewal. It is also the birthday of Osiris, Dionysus and Horus. There is nothing new, or particularly Christian, in the celebration of Christmas and other similar celebrations at or near the Winter Solstice in the northern hemisphere. The roots of this seasonal celebration run deep in antiquity, emanating from the Shamanic rites of the Neolithic era.