I might have posted this last year, but it isn't as if anyone would remember!

Happy Solstice: Hail the Rebirth of the Sun.

As the "holy" days approach (and some are finishing), the inevitable admonishment that "Jesus is the reason for the season" is often repeated.

But folks, Jesus is not the reason for the season, and he belongs to a group of dying and resurrecting deities who signal the end of the year and the birth of the new.

In short, the winter solstice is the reason for the season.

The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, and symbolically speaking, it marks the "death" of a current year. However, the next day is a minute longer and the year is reborn. Many cultures held celebrations during this time of year, from Saturnalia to Christianity; they honored different gods, but they all served the same purpose. Mithras was born on December 25 (on which the solstice fell under the Julian calendar); Mithras predates Jesus and if it had not been mystery religion which only men could join (and only certain men), we might be celebrating the birth of Mithras this weekend.

But the purpose(s) . . . ostensibly, the purpose of winter celebrations are to honor the births of deities and to welcome the new year, but even more, the celebrations are to remind ourselves that while winter is here, spring will come. We eat and make merry to defy the cold. We pause for remembrance of the harvest past, and we look forward to the next harvests. It is hope springing eternal in the human breast and for many, hope is all that they have.

It has also become a time of hypocrisy, remembering the poor when "we" try to forget them during the rest of the year. Take a walk through Walmart and see how many people look jovial. And to those who still insist that "Jesus is the reason," Xmas is a secular holiday; as a continuation of traditions that had nothing to do with Christ, it is a syncretism of those traditions.

But enough bah-humbugging. Happy Yule, Happy Kwanzaa, late Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, have a Good Winter, but most of all:

"HAIL THE REBIRTH OF THE SUN."