Winter Solstice

Sermon: December 21, 2025 . Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of San Dieguito

Today is the Winter Solstice, the day the Northern Hemisphere experiences the least amount of light, thus the longest night of the year. Celebrations reach around the world on this day as cultures look toward the return of light, of warmth, and in many ways life itself as we wind our way toward spring and the rebirth of plants and animals that sustain us through the year. Many traditional celebrations take place today, including those of the Hopi Indians of northern Arizona, whose rituals include dancing and gift-giving. In Iran, the Yalda festival marks the last day of the Persian month of Azar and is considered the victory of light over dark and the birthday of the sun god Mithra. The Incans celebrated the Sun god on this day and the Romans celebrated Saturnalia with feasting and gifts. St. Lucia’s Day, a festival of lights, is celebrated in Scandinavia, which echoes earlier Norse traditions, including lighting fires to ward off spirits during the longest night. In China, the festival Dong Zhi announces the arrival of winter. 

Solstice celebrations resonate across the globe during the Winter Solstice as cultures acknowledge their relationship with the earth, and its relationship to the sun. Although here in the Northern Hemisphere our tilted position makes it our longest night of the year, we are actually the closest in proximity to our beloved sun that we can possibly get due to our position in orbit. It is a day that is hard to ignore since seasons, calendars, and some people’s seasonal affective disorder all point to the fact that the light is returning and our earth will soon make its slow turn toward longer, warmer days.

So on this day when nature screams at us the loudest to notice our amazing universe, our earth, and the cyclical system of life it offers us, how did two of our most celebrated holidays, Hanukkah and Christmas get nestled right in the middle of it?

According to the Hebrew calendar, which is based on the cycles of the moon as well as the sun, Hanukkah starts on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev. This can generally fall sometime between late November into December, but why was the 25th day of Kislev chosen to hold such an important celebration? 

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, of the Jewish Renewal movement, argues that both historical events that make up the foundation of the holiday were placed on the Winter solstice on purpose. First, the Syrian Greeks may have chosen that date to desecrate the Temple specifically because it was a time of solar and lunar darkness, meaning it was the winter solstice and the waning of the moon, definitely a time which would have naturally felt like a good opportunity for a covert operation as well as coinciding with already instituted solstice traditions of wild revelry and animal sacrifices. 

Following that, the Maccabees took the anniversary of that same date to rededicate the Temple, jumping on the popularity of the pagan solstice festival, which had at this point quite a bit of support from partially Hellenized Jews. This turned the day into not just a victory of the Maccabees over the Greeks, but of God over the pagans. It is even more helpful that the story of the lamp that kept darkness away for eight full nights after only having enough oil for one night, ties in beautifully with already existing celebrations about light returning during the darkest time of year. If Hannukah was set intentionally around the time of the Winter solstice, when the moon and the sun are at its darkest, then the candles associated with this holiday that many call the Festival of Lights, represent the hope for renewed light and life that already accompany this time of year. 

In the fourth century, 300 years after Jesus’ birth and over 400 years after the Maccabees revolted against the Greeks, scholars argued over the exact date of Jesus’ birth. Many dates were suggested, but the only ones that stuck were December 25th and January 6th. During early Christianity, the Romans celebrated their solstice festival Saturnalia in late December and the Roman emperor Aurelian established a special feast on December 25th for the birth of Sol Invictus, the Roman sun God. One theory is that it was easier to piggy-back on already established celebrations than to compete or establish brand new celebrations that carried no tradition or nostalgia to the newly converted Christians. Early Christians kept decorating with evergreen garlands, which had ancient roots in Pagan solstice celebrations, and years later in medieval times the Germanic Christians borrowed the Christmas tree from the Druids. Not unlike the carols us “non-Christians” will sing on Thursday, there is comfort and meaning in already established traditions. 

Another theory stemming from several global locations during the 4th century is that Jesus’ birth is celebrated nine months after his conception, which has been placed on the same day as his death, March 25th. There is a rabbinic notion that important dates line up time and time again. That beginnings and ends coincide. This Jewish tradition is evidenced by their usage of anniversaries to reclaim and redefine a day, as in the choice to rededicate the Temple on the same day it was originally seized. So, it would make sense to many that Jesus would have been conceived on the same date as his death, which most Biblical scholars agree is well evidenced through scripture to be in late March. And the day that comes 9 months after March 25th is December 25th. 

Finally, there is the powerful metaphoric connection between the “SUN” and the “SON.” These two words evolved from the same Germanic root and in the late 4th century, church father Ambrose said Christ was “the true SUN, who outshone the fallen gods of the old order.” Many of us know that according to John 8:12, Jesus is “the light of the world. Whoever follows [him] will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

So why does any of this matter, how we got here, to this time of year when celebrations congregate, intermingle, and sometimes compete for our attention? These examples show us the historical importance of this time of year, the attention our ancestors gave to the natural phenomenon of our earth reaching this specific position in its orbit. And as meaning makers, we humans have given this day a special place in our lives for millennia. We’ve created rituals and celebrations to honor it and the meaning it carries for us and for humanity. This day of ultimate darkness is not only the ending of a period of rest, but the beginning of the return to light and life, a phenomenon our ancestors experienced long before any of these holiday celebrations existed. It is the beginning of longer days, of warmth returning, of the earth waking up from its slumber. It reassures us that no matter how dark it gets, even when despair has taken root, the light will return and slowly our hearts will heal, reopen, and blossom again.

So regardless of how you celebrate this winter solstice, no matter what candles or lights you shine, know that you are one with the universe and not alone. As part of nature, we are all experiencing the same phenomenon. Despite any struggle, darkness, or despair we may have recently experienced, the light is coming. May we each nestle into this last day of darkness and let ourselves heal and rest, for tomorrow we turn a corner toward the light, and toward hope.

OTHER READINGS FOR REFLECTION:

Kaitlyn Bouchillon:

No matter how deep the darkness, 

Hope has something to say.

David Gate:

The darkest day is no reason to be afraid.

We can let the moon have her moment

And welcome silence

Under the cover of starlight.

Tonight I light the candles 

Earlier than any other night.

There are lessons in the dark

And a deeper hope to discover

Than merely the promise

Of brighter days.

The Shortest Day by SUSAN COOPER  

So the shortest day came, and the year died, 

And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world 

Came people singing, dancing, 

To drive the dark away. 

They lighted candles in the winter trees; 

They hung their homes with evergreen; 

They burned beseeching fires all night long 

To keep the year alive,

 And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake 

They shouted, reveling. 

Through all the frosty ages you can hear them 

Echoing behind us—Listen!! 

All the long echoes sing the same delight, 

This shortest day, 

As promise wakens in the sleeping land: 

They carol, feast, give thanks, 

And dearly love their friends, 

And hope for peace. 

And so do we, here, now, 

This year and every year. 

Welcome Yule!