Solstice, Yule, Saturnalia, Chaomos

The world over celebrated the Solstice…the longest night…that promises the return of increasingly longer days. Recognized throughout all of human history as the point in time when celebrations honor the light. All cultures including the Romans, Chaomos of northwestern Pakistan (Chaomos), the Maya of the Yucatan to El Salvador, Igbo of Nigeria, Maori of New Zealand and the peoples of Scandinavia (Yule) made and continue to make special ceremonies marking the annual change from night to day.

The original peoples of México in the place known as Itzapan on the south western coast bordering Guatemala long ago noted the significance of the Solstice in the great cycle of time that is the time required for the earth’s solar system to orbit the full distance around the Milky Way’s rotation.  More than 26,000 is needed for this vast orbital trip.

On the Gregorean Calendar (originally decreed by the Roman Catholic Pope Gregory XIII on 24 February 1582) the great cycle known in México’s ancient traditions comes to an end on 21 December 2012.  As history reports, the DayKeepers who manage knowledge about the calendar and time and space among the Maya remind us that this approaching marker in time is a moment of birth, death and rebirth: a great transformation.

Fourth World peoples throughout the world know of this important moment and mark the annual time changes on the Solstice with reverence and deep respect. Human beings closest to the cosmos and to the soil give thanks for the Sun and for the folding of human beings into the wholeness that includes the smallest and the greatest.

Less than a year lays ahead as we prepare for the great moment of birth, death and rebirth: the transformation.