Uh oh! Seems once again two December observances are chatting! Let’s listen in…
Winter Solstice: Here I am! Time for the sun to stop at the Tropic of Capricorn and start heading back the other way again!
Christmas: Marvelous! And that means I’m only four days away! Time for wreaths and holly and celebration!
Winter Solstice: Uh, yeah, about that, isn’t that all actually mine?
Christmas: We can share, can’t we?
Winter Solstice: Well, of course. You and I are more or less the same celebration anyway.
Christmas: Exactly! The return of light in a world of cold darkness, whether the return of the sun, or the birth of the Son of God.
Winter Solstice: The latter of which actually happened in April, of course.
Christmas: Yeah, true.
Winter Solstice: But April is home to Easter, the resurrection of Jesus, which as far as Christianity is concerned, actually matters. The circumstances of Jesus’s birth aren’t all that important beyond being a cute story. So maybe it’s a good thing you’re here in December with me.
Christmas: Goodness, what am I left with?
Winter Solstice: Other stuff that merged into you.
Christmas: Oh, wait, I know. I’ve got Santa Claus!
Winter Solstice: Ah, there you go. Plus, because of you, all my celebrations are four days later than me.
Christmas: Not quite! There’s been stuff all month. You and I are somewhat interchangeable.
Winter Solstice: Well, maybe I should be grateful for you. Keeping me alive in a sense. I perhaps don’t quite have Chanukah’s Jewish resilience.
Christmas: You got lucky in that exchange. Christians made most of your celebrations and symbols to be about Jesus somehow. It was either that or wipe everything out entirely.
Winter Solstice: Have you read your history? Christians did wipe a lot of Pagans out, or at least forcefully converted them.
Christmas: Yeah, I’ve never claimed my celebrators to be the most upstanding people in general.
Winter Solstice: Eh, don’t feel bad. It’s not your fault. You’ve been merely a tool and a result of it, but you’ve made the best of it and still inspire good, even if only nominally.
Christmas: Right! That’s what the season is about, right? Rising out of the cold, dark, gloomy, evil past and into joy, love, peace, and light!
Winter Solstice: Because today the sun returns!
Christmas: And it means the miraculous birth of salvation!
Winter Solstice: Because fuck the southern hemisphere!
Christmas: Ummm…
