Paying Homage to the Return of the Sun

It’s beginning to feel a lot like winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, or the longest night, depending upon whether you see the glass as half-empty or half-full.

This year the solstice, sometimes known as Yule, falls on Dec. 21. After that, daylight starts to drag on, except in the Southern Hemisphere, which is on an opposite schedule.

Winter solstice occurs when the sun’s orbit is the farthest south, but for more solstice science visit https://wwwhttps:// .treasure-troves.com/astro/WinterSolstice.html.

The ancients, of course, knew squat about orbits and the tilt of the Earth. Winter solstice for them was the rebirth of the sun. The University of Maryland’s Center for Archaeoastronomy (https://www.wam.umd.edu/~tlaloc/archastro/cfaindex.html) has more on the effect of space on Earth cultures.

A good site for general solstice information is provided by the Watertown Library Assn. (https://www.watertownlibrary.org/yule.html), which includes not only ancient roots but modern celebrations.

It’s the pagans that make the solstice interesting. In fact, many Christmas traditions come from ancient solstice celebrations (https://home.ccil.org/~kmiles/dln/12-95/decsol.html), which the church co-opted to attract the pagans.

Many other religions’ winter celebrations also are related to solstice. For a rundown, visit https://www.religioustolerance.org/wintersolstice.htm.

How does a modern Angeleno celebrate the solstice? You could start by following some pagan traditions such as bringing evergreen branches into the house and hanging a sprig of mistletoe (https://www.circlesanctuary.org/pholidays/YulePlants.html). You were already planning to do that? Wow.

Or you can party like a Druid. One version of that solstice ceremony is at https://www.adf.org/rituals/celtic/wsolstice.html. They lost us with the pork, but you might have better luck.

Another devotional based on Celtic traditions is at https://www.create.org/elchai/herbcer1.htm. Among the activities is going outside to honor the “Green Standing People.” And then chopping them down and decorating them.

The Romans called winter solstice Saturnalia, and the Biblioteca Arcana site (https://www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/Saturnalia.html) has all the info you need to throw a Roman holiday. The equipment and supplies list is long but does include handy substitutions, such as Play-Doh for clay .

Not to be left out by old guys in togas, witches (OK, people of the Wiccan faith) have their own solstice goings-on. The Witches’ Voice has a Yule page at https://www.witchvox.com/holidays/yule.html, along with pages on seven other pagan holidays.

But if your coven has gone home for the holidays, you can learn how to celebrate a solitary solstice at https://www.twpt.com/karriyule.htm.

If you have kids, there are plenty of solstice activities for the family. Familyeducation.com at https://www.familyeducation.com/topic/front/0,1156,1-4205,00.html will show you how to build your own Stonehenge and offers “fun myths about ancient sun gods.” But the site has enough pop-up ads to make you wish for lightning bolts.

Not to be outdone, Blue Mountain weighs in with Yule and winter solstice e-cards at https://www.bluemountain.com/eng3/solstice.

We hate when a holiday goes commercial.

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Robert Burns is graphics editor at The Times’ Business section. He can be reached at robert.burns@latimes.com.