Santa's big day: Hot and maybe wet

Today (December 21) just happens to be the summer solstice in the southern hemisphere, the longest day of the year.
This means we can all now look forward to blazing hot weather for the next two or three months – just what you all wanted to know, I’m sure!
Of course, the situation is the reverse in the northern hemisphere; and indeed the winter solstice is the actual original date and reason for celebration in pre-Christian times, before being replaced by Christmas Day.
So, merry solstice, everybody!

@Alex Nelson. 21 December … Ssshhh … I wouldn’t broadcast this too loudly if I were you.
Today’s non-Christian Greenies are the throwbacks pre-Christian worshippers of Nature’s solstices.
At the moment, they are getting a freeby long weekend, a public holiday on 25 December, Christ’s Birthday, Christmas Day.
It might give Richard di Natale and his cohorts ideas. They might want to shift the public holiday from 25 December to their sacred day, 21 December, or they might get greedy and want both.
They might even want to make 21 December Australia Day – or should that be 21 June? Ho!Ho!Ho!

@ John Bell: I retrieved my copy of the Good News Bible (Catholic Study Edition), blew the dust of the top, and opened it to the very first story in the Book of Genesis, “The Story of Creation.”
Here I find the tale of how God created the universe and the world in six days; and with each day after He had created some aspect of the world as we know it, “God was pleased with what he saw.”
It was on the fourth day that God created the sun, moon and stars “to separate day from night and to show the time when days, years, and religious festivals begin; they will shine in the sky to give light to the earth – and it was done.”
So, according to the Catholic version of the Book of Genesis, it was on the fourth day of Creation we can take it that God made such events including solstices and equinoxes.
Yep, sure enough, at the end of the fourth day we’re told: “And God was pleased with what he saw.”
Seems to me it’s kind of hard to be critical of the pagans of long ago celebrating these perfectly natural occasions as religious festivals.
Incidentally, I stand to be corrected on my first comment, this year the actual solstice occurred at about 2am Australian Central Standard Time on December 22.
OK, so we have confirmation that the Bible approves the natural events like solstices because “God was pleased with what he saw.”
How about Christmas as Jesus Christ’s birthday? Well, from a recent posting “What history really tells us about the birth of Jesus” (google it) I obtain this quote: “Firstly, the actual birth day of Jesus was not December 25. The date we celebrate was adopted by the Christian church as the birthday of Christ in the fourth century. Prior to this period, different Christians celebrated Christmas on different dates.”
Oh dear, methinks the pagans have it. Ho! Ho! Ho! indeed.

@ Alex Nelson, “The pagans have it”: Not sure that the uncertain date of Christ’s birth matters.
A very long-time Aboriginal friend of mine, a very well known sporting identity, I am sure you know, was brought into white civilization from the Kalgoorlie goldfields scrub by his tribal mum 74 years ago as a tiny little bub.
They did not know the date of birth so they settled on 1 July, as they did in those days. Celebrated joyfully every year for 74 years.
My point being that our arrival in this world is to be celebrated. Every soul is equally important. Taught by Christ.
Emperor Constantine was the first ruler to set 25 December because he recognised this fact.
He adopted the pagan Saturnalia to celebrate Christ’s birth to make the point that whereas the pagans celebrated going into darkness then coming out of it cyclically every six months, the coming of Christ – Christmas, no matter what day it is – celebrates coming out of darkness into everlasting enlightenment, love and hope.
So I think Christians actually have it over the old pagans who are forever going around in seasonal circles.
So. A Happy and loving Christmas to you and to all staff and contributors at Alice Springs News Online.

@ John Bell: You might like to check out “How December 25 Became Christmas – Andrew McGowan” (google it) which provides a very interesting account of the rise to dominance of this particular date. It’s much more complex than the commonly held belief that the Emperor Constantine was responsible for this choice.
You’re right – the actual birth date of Christ doesn’t matter which is exactly what the earliest Christians thought, too.
Originally Christ’s birth day wasn’t considered important and that is why nobody is even certain what year it was, let alone the date.
You say that Christmas “celebrates coming out of darkness into everlasting enlightenment, love and hope” but in fact that was the purpose behind the Resurrection of Christ which was the primary focus, indeed the core, of early Christian belief – without that, everything else was irrelevant.
There’s nothing wrong with going around in seasonal circles, that’s our planet’s reality. As a life-long gardener and nature observer, I cherish the seasons – we know of no other place in the universe that is as benign as our own world.
And as for history repeating, one has only to look at the overwhelming dominance of crass consumerism masquerading as “gift giving” to realize that Christmas these days is as pagan as it ever might have been in ancient times.
So yes, I prefer to ignore Christmas and downplay the significance of birth days (especially as I get older) and accept every day I’m in good health, alive and breathing, to be just as significant as any other day.