Words: Katie Cutforth
This article was first published in the Nov/Dec 2024 issue of IQ, the exclusive magazine for Mensa members. Find out more about becoming a Mensa member here.
From ancient Neolithic tombs to colourful processions, we delve into the origins of winter solstice celebrations and how they are still observed around the world today.
In County Meath, not far from Dublin, lies an ancient Neolithic tomb by the name of Newgrange. This striking monument is comprised of a circular grassy mound adorned with white cobbles, surrounded by a ring of standing stones. Inside, a 19m-long cross-shaped passage leads to a central chamber, its cavernous walls decorated with swirling engravings.
Built more than 5,000 years ago, Newgrange is a marvel to behold all year round. But its true wonder is revealed just once a year, in the depths of winter. As dawn arrives on a few mornings around 21 December – also known as the winter solstice – the tomb’s chamber is lit up by dazzling sunlight.
Monuments to the sun
It’s the perfect design work of Neolithic architects that makes this possible. Above the entrance to the tomb’s passage is a small opening known as a roof-box. As the sun rises on the mornings of 19-23 December, a golden finger of sunlight enters the roof-box, travels the length of the passage and widens until the entire chamber is bathed in its glow. The spectacle, lasting just 17 minutes, offers a remarkable insight into the tomb designers’ intimate understanding of astronomy and celestial patterns.
Newgrange is not the only monument in the British Isles to have been designed with the solstice in mind. Maeshowe in Orkney is remarkably similar. It is also a passage tomb that is lit up at solstice, but at sunset rather than sunrise. England’s Stonehenge, perhaps the most famous Neolithic monument of all, was also built to align with the sun on the solstices – sunlight floods through its centre at sunset on the shortest day and at sunrise on the longest day.
A form of timekeeping
Why did Neolithic humans make such efforts to honour the solstice? Well, it’s clear that an understanding of events such as the summer and winter solstices was deeply connected to their survival. Predicting the changing seasons was crucial to planting and harvesting so structures that helped them mark the arrival of the longest and shortest days can be seen as a form of timekeeping.
There is a spiritual and cultural significance to this acknowledgement of the solstice, too. For millennia, people around the globe have regarded the occasion as the end of winter and the rebirth of the sun, and marked it with festivities.
The Ancient Romans marked the winter solstice with an event called Saturnalia, gathering for games, festivities and banquets – customs that are thought to have influenced modern-day Christmas celebrations. The Scandinavian countries celebrate St Lucia, a Christian event deeply connected to Norse solstice traditions; girls wear white dresses and crowns of candles on their heads, symbolising the triumph of light over dark.
Many Native American communities have (or had) long-held solstice ceremonies. Soyal, the sacred winter solstice celebration of the Hopi people of northern Arizona, is marked by rituals including purification, dancing and sometimes gift-giving, as they welcome protective spirits known as Kachinas.
A great many Aztec structures align with the sun’s movement on the solstice, such as the Temple of Kukulcan in Mexico. The Aztecs marked the solstice with a festival called Panquetzaliztli, which would be celebrated with dance, music and a running race.
Further east, the Persian winter solstice celebration Yalda has been observed since ancient times, with people in Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan gathering to eat decadent foods and keep vigil all night to welcome the morning sunlight. And in China, there is the Dongzhi Festival, the ‘arrival of winter’, when families come together to give thanks for the year and enjoy special foods such as tang yuan (rice balls) and dumplings.
Celebrating the solstice
Every year, thousands of folks in the UK and Ireland gather at Neolithic sites to witness the solstice as it would have been observed by our ancient ancestors. At Stonehenge, neo-Druids, neo-pagans and Wiccans congregate to mark the solstice with activities such as storytelling, poetry recitals, singing and dancing. Many of the light spectacles of the solstice at Neolithic sites are also watchable via video livestream.
And at the Montol festival in Penzance, Cornwall, people don colourful outfits and masks and join a torchlit parade, ending with Celtic dancing throughout the town. In Brighton, the annual Burning the Clocks celebration takes place on the shortest day, with locals lighting homemade paper lanterns and gathering around a bonfire.
But wherever and however you might want to mark it, the winter solstice is an opportunity to honour our forebearers and their rituals – and bring some pre-Christmas warmth to the bleak midwinter days.
Image credit: Shutterstock
