The Solstice and equinox occurs twice a year. Although there are many cultures in our history that celebrate religious festivals on this day, the equinox itself just means that the day and night are equally long. Solstice in the summer means extra long day in the Northern Hemisphere and Winter Solstice means extra long night in the Northern Hemisphere. The equinox and solstice marks the transitions. Something we (our current global culture which has the same behavior patterns differing only in degree)... figured out how to do in the 18th or 19th centuries. Examples:
Ancient Solar Observatory Discovered
History of Science In Non-Western Traditions
Personally, I think the spring equinox was the ancient new years (though some believe it may be the winter solstice as the day starts getting longer after that point). Many monuments have been built by cultures that have basically been lost to time. Later festivals and religious celebrations are simply that, later celebrations that someone made up. (Background: Plato's Atlantis Found!)
This is an equinox event at Chichen Itza (the sun causes light effects like Newgrange below)...
Ancient Solar Observatory Discovered
History of Science In Non-Western Traditions
Personally, I think the spring equinox was the ancient new years (though some believe it may be the winter solstice as the day starts getting longer after that point). Many monuments have been built by cultures that have basically been lost to time. Later festivals and religious celebrations are simply that, later celebrations that someone made up. (Background: Plato's Atlantis Found!)
This is an equinox event at Chichen Itza (the sun causes light effects like Newgrange below)...
Kukulkan at its finest during the Spring Equinox. Chichen Itza Equinox March 2009. The famous descent of the snake at the temple.
On Stonehenge:
As seen from the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice – typically around December 21 to 23 – is the day on which the sun’s path stops moving southward in the sky. The winter solstice marks the longest night and shortest day of the year. For us in the northern hemisphere, it’s the day on which the days stop growing shorter and will soon begin to lengthen again. For this reason, in festivals and celebrations across this hemisphere of Earth, the winter solstice is linked to the idea of rebirth.
The sun is perfectly aligned for winter solstice, between two stones, at Stonehenge...
As seen from the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice – typically around December 21 to 23 – is the day on which the sun’s path stops moving southward in the sky. The winter solstice marks the longest night and shortest day of the year. For us in the northern hemisphere, it’s the day on which the days stop growing shorter and will soon begin to lengthen again. For this reason, in festivals and celebrations across this hemisphere of Earth, the winter solstice is linked to the idea of rebirth.
The sun is perfectly aligned for winter solstice, between two stones, at Stonehenge...
Nebraska has created it's own version of Stonehenge as a tourist attraction (stuff like this is part of the reason I call the US "Disneyland" - no connection to Disney Inc. )...
Holy Circles
Whatever the significance of the Equinox was to the Ancients, one thing can't be argued, circles have always played an important part in rituals, architecture and the basic psychology of people throughout the ages...
Example 1; Cosmology
Whatever the significance of the Equinox was to the Ancients, one thing can't be argued, circles have always played an important part in rituals, architecture and the basic psychology of people throughout the ages...
Example 1; Cosmology
Ordering the Heavens: A Visual History of Mapping the Universeby Maria Popova
From Copernicus to Ancient Korea, or what the Chinese concept of change has to do with Aztec astrology.
Example 2; Mandalas
From Copernicus to Ancient Korea, or what the Chinese concept of change has to do with Aztec astrology.
Example 2; Mandalas
(Image and extract source): This unprecedented exhibition marks the first public presentation of the preeminent psychologist C. G. Jung’s (1875-1961) famous Red Book. During the period in which he worked on this book Jung developed his principal theories of archetypes, collective unconscious, and the process of individuation. It is possibly the most influential unpublished work in the history of psychology. More than two-thirds of the large, red, leather-bound manuscript’s pages are filled with Jung’s brightly hued and striking graphic forms paired with his thoughts written in a beautiful, illuminated style. Jung was fascinated by the mandala—an artistic representation of the inner and outer cosmos used in Tibetan Buddhism to help practitioners reach enlightenment—and used mandala structures in a number of his own works. Jung’s first known mandala-like work, Systema mundi totius (1916), will be on display. Created between 1914 and 1930, the Red Book has never before been seen in public, outside the circle of Jung’s family and very close friends.
First exhibit of works created by patients of Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung goes up at Oglethorpe University Art Museum.
More Information: Rubin Museum of Art
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