Sue Moon’s Blog

Many cultures celebrate various combinations of the winter and summer solstices, the equinoxes, and the midpoints between them, leading to various holidays arising around these events. For the winter solstice, Christmas is the most popular holiday to have arisen. In addition, Yalda, Saturnalia, Karachun, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Yule (see winter solstice for more) are also celebrated around this time. For the summer solstice, Christian Catholic cultures and Nordic Christian Protestant cultures celebrate the feast of St. John from June 23 to June 24 (see St. John’s Eve, Ivan Kupala Day, Midsummer), while the Wiccan culture observes Litha. For the vernal (spring) equinox, several spring-time festivals are celebrated, such as the observance in Judaism of Passover. The autumnal equinox has also given rise to various holidays, such as the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. At the midpoints between these four solar events, cross-quarter days are celebrated.

In most cultures the solstices and equinoxes also determine the midpoint of the seasons, which can be seen in the celebrations called midsummer and midwinter. Along this vein, the Japanese celebrate the start of each season with an occurrence known as Setsubun.

In Hinduism, the solstices are termed as Uttarayana and Dakshinayana. The former occurs around January 14th of each year, while the latter occurs around June 21st each year. According to the Vedic Calendar, Uttarayana is termed as auspicious while Dakshinayana is inauspicious for deaths and births, while for festivals the reverse stands true. The offerings to ancestors and the dead occurs in Dakshinayana.

One of most controversial winter solstices is the December 21, 2012, which marks the end of a baktun of the ancient Maya calendar.