Winter Solstice Celebrations
December 21 marks the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, when the sun rises the latest and sets the soonest. The days have gotten colder (and there's about 6 inches of snow on my lawn), but we know from experience that the worst winter weather is yet to come.
At the same time, we know that the days will grow longer and the sun gains strength, and many people celebrate this time as a yearly rebirth for the sun. Wiccans celebrate the solstice as Yule, and mark it as a day of rebirth and new beginnings. Many other Neopagans share similar beliefs. Zoroastrians celebrate Yalda, which is the birth of Mithra. Light and dark are strongly tied to concepts of good and evil, so Yalda is also the day where the evil principle Ahriman is seen to be driven back by the light of goodness.
Comments
http://altreligion.about.com/library/weekly/aa052902a.htm The Mysterious Dying God.
This page used to present a thorough work about Mithraism and its share in Christianity. The present page is a mess.
Where is the page that used to be?
All of the old pages are deleted when a Site gets a new Guide. It’s about.com’s policy, since writers are paid by page views. It wouldn’t be fair for me to be paid for someone else’s work, nor would it be fair for me to be confined by the previous writer’s work.
Wow. All of the Jesus mysteries amd Mithra and the rest…..all gone! What a pity. It was a valuable source!
Hi Observer..that one and some others are here:
http://brotherraven.com/the-mysterious-dying-god/