On Mon, 02 Jan 2006 05:02:10 GMT, "Travis M."
wrote:

"Jangchub" wrote in message

On Thu, 29 Dec 2005 07:55:27 -0800, Persephone wrote:

On 28 Dec 2005 15:29:30 -0800, "Chuckie"
wrote:

The winter soltise is a druid holiday
Chuckie in the frozen north, zone 5

Wrongie, Chuckie. The Winter Solstice
is an astronomical phenomenon:
In layman's terms, the day is at its shortest.

What different cultures, including the Druids,
do at the Solstice is another matter.

Persephone


And to add further to the Winter Solstice (which was my 50th
birthday)

Mazal tov!

[...fascinating astronomical discourse...]

The ancients charted the travel of the star Sirius as it moved
westward. At the mid-point of its travels, it marks the rebirth
of
the night Sun at midnight of December 25th, the beginning of
many
gay festivities and celebration, then just like today.

What gay festivals?

Believe it or not, there was a time when "gay" meant happy, cheerful.

To our ancestors this meant the Sun had won out over Old Man
Winter, that
all life would be saved by its warm, life-giving rays. The Sun
had
experienced death for three days, but on December 25th it was
resurrected, reborn on Natalis Solis Invicti, "The Birth of the
Unconquered Sun." "Christ's Mass or Christmas", really means
"Sun's
Mass." The title Christ may be traced to the Chaldean "Chris" a
name of the Sun. Its Hebrew equivalent, "Heres" occurs several
times in the Old Testament where it is always translated as
"Sun".

Can you give the Hebrew letters for "Heres" and some idea where in the
Hebrew Bible it appears?

I thought "Sun" was "Shamash".

Solar theology has inspired some religions to bolster their own
deities by borrowing from the power of the Sun, and much
confusion
exists because of this practice.

Not in the minds of the retailers, who stand to make 1/3 of their
annual nut by appropriating the date as a Christian holy day.
Which many Christians, alas, no longer celebrate as a religious
event but rather a shopping event.

However, anyone can look for
themselves: on a December midnight clear, the truth is
revealed. To
know that the Sun will bring us warmed, green crops, and
renewed
life is certainly grounds for rejoicing.

Blessings to all

There is an astronomical term which I can't remember -- something like
"alemna"??? It explains why the days get longer (after the Winter
Solstice) FASTER than they got shorter before the Solstice. I
looked this up once, because I had always THOUGHT this was
the case, and it was confirmed.

Anybody?