Shab-e Yalda ‘Yalda night’ or Shab-e Chelleh ‘night of forty’ is an Iranian festival celebrated on the ‘longest and darkest night of the year’. The festival’s origins can be traced back to the yin and yang philosophy of balance and harmony.ĭuring this time for getting together, families in southern China often make and eat tangyuan: balls of glutinous rice, occasionally brightly coloured, cooked in a sweet or savoury broth. It celebrates the return of longer daylight hours and ultimately an increase of positive energy. In China and East Asia, the Dongzhi Festival is one of the most important times of the year. Serene Saturn by Damian Peach, Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016 Dongzhi Festival (Asia) The usual law and order would be suspended, schools and businesses would close, and quarrels would be forgotten. People would make sacrifices at the Temple of Saturn before banqueting and giving gifts. As the name suggests, the festival was celebrated in honour of Saturn, the father of the gods, the same deity after which the sixth planet in our solar system is named. In Ancient Rome, the festival of Saturnalia began on 17 December and lasted for seven days. Today the event is celebrated in some forms of Modern Paganism. Present day Christmas customs and traditions such as the Yule log, Yule boar, Yule singing, and others stem from pagan Juul.
Fires would be lit to symbolise the heat and light of the returning sun and a Yule log was gathered and burnt in the hearth as a tribute the Norse god Thor. The pre-Christian festival, the Feast of Juul, was observed in Scandinavia at the time of the December solstice. Here are some of the festivals celebrated internationally, past and present: Yule (Neopagan) With the introduction of the Gregorian calendar the solstice slipped to the 21st, but the Christian celebration of Jesus’s birth continued to be held on 25 December. Under the old Julian Calendar, the winter solstice occurred on 25 December. Winter solstice is an important time for cultures across the globe.