{"id":654,"date":"2010-12-21T12:54:52","date_gmt":"2010-12-21T17:54:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eightminefortress.com\/surewhynot\/?p=654"},"modified":"2017-08-11T20:55:37","modified_gmt":"2017-08-12T01:55:37","slug":"winter-solstice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eightminefortress.com\/surewhynot\/index.php\/2010\/12\/21\/winter-solstice","title":{"rendered":"Winter Solstice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Uh oh! Seems once again two December observances are chatting! Let’s listen in…<\/p>\n

Winter Solstice:<\/b> Here I am! Time for the sun to stop at the Tropic of Capricorn and start heading back the other way again!<\/p>\n

Christmas:<\/b> Marvelous! And that means I’m only four days away! Time for wreaths and holly and celebration!<\/p>\n

Winter Solstice:<\/b> Uh, yeah, about that, isn’t that all actually mine?<\/p>\n

Christmas:<\/b> We can share, can’t we?<\/p>\n

Winter Solstice:<\/b> Well, of course. You and I are more or less the same celebration anyway.
\n
\nChristmas:<\/b> 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.<\/p>\n

Winter Solstice:<\/b> The latter of which actually happened in April, of course.<\/p>\n

Christmas:<\/b> Yeah, true.<\/p>\n

Winter Solstice:<\/b> 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.<\/p>\n

Christmas:<\/b> Goodness, what am I left with?<\/p>\n

Winter Solstice:<\/b> Other stuff that merged into you.<\/p>\n

Christmas:<\/b> Oh, wait, I know. I’ve got Santa Claus!<\/p>\n

Winter Solstice:<\/b> Ah, there you go. Plus, because of you, all my celebrations are four days later than me.<\/p>\n

Christmas:<\/b> Not quite! There’s been stuff all month. You and I are somewhat interchangeable.<\/p>\n

Winter Solstice:<\/b> Well, maybe I should be grateful for you. Keeping me alive in a sense. I perhaps don’t quite have Chanukah’s Jewish resilience.<\/p>\n

Christmas:<\/b> 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.<\/p>\n

Winter Solstice:<\/b> Have you read your history? Christians did wipe a lot of Pagans out, or at least forcefully converted them.<\/p>\n

Christmas:<\/b> Yeah, I’ve never claimed my celebrators to be the most upstanding people in general.<\/p>\n

Winter Solstice:<\/b> 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.<\/p>\n

Christmas:<\/b> 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!<\/p>\n

Winter Solstice:<\/b> Because today the sun returns!<\/p>\n

Christmas:<\/b> And it means the miraculous birth of salvation!<\/p>\n

Winter Solstice:<\/b> Because fuck the southern hemisphere!<\/p>\n

Christmas:<\/b> Ummm…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Continue reading “Winter Solstice”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas-time","category-wtf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eightminefortress.com\/surewhynot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eightminefortress.com\/surewhynot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eightminefortress.com\/surewhynot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eightminefortress.com\/surewhynot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eightminefortress.com\/surewhynot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.eightminefortress.com\/surewhynot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1353,"href":"https:\/\/www.eightminefortress.com\/surewhynot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654\/revisions\/1353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eightminefortress.com\/surewhynot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eightminefortress.com\/surewhynot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eightminefortress.com\/surewhynot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}