 Christmas today obviously has its roots in Christianity, but how did the ancient pagan Celts celebrate this time of year? And the ancient Celts, along with most if not all other ancient cultures around the world, did celebrate around this time of year. A winter solstice occurs when either of the earth's poles reaches its maximum tilt away from the sun. This happens twice yearly, one in the northern hemisphere and one in the southern hemisphere. For that hemisphere, the winter solstice is the day with the shortest period of daylight and longest night of the year, where the sun is at its lowest daily maximum elevation in the sky. When the winter solstice happens in the northern hemisphere, the north pole is tilted about 23.4 degrees away from the sun. It usually happens on the 21st or 22nd of December in the northern hemisphere, but in the southern hemisphere it happens in the summer, on the 20th or 21st of June. This year's winter solstice takes place at 327am on the 22nd of December UK time. The word solstice itself is actually quite interesting. It is Latin and origin, and it's taken from the idea that the sun appears to stand still in the sky. In ancient Rome, this was described as solstitium, a combination of the word sol meaning the sun, and cister, meaning stand still. In ancient cultures there must have been a real sense of worry and not knowing if the sun would rise again, given the lack of scientific knowledge compared to today, giving rise to lots of legends and myths about the rise of the sun. It is interesting to wonder, however, how sophisticated are knowledge of the movement of the stars where? After all, ancient cultures would look up, are in the fire, they would look up at the stars, and they wouldn't have been obviously like pollution like we have today, and sit and told stories and follow the movement of the stars across the sky. So it is interesting how knowledgeable they would have actually been in certain ancient cultures about the movement of the stars and the seasons and the cycles of things. Even well before the Celks, we know that ancient cultures, even hunter-gatherers, would have followed the stars to a large degree. In Scotland, quite recently, the world's oldest calendar was found, dated to around 8000 BC, or around 10,000 years ago. This is a lunar calendar that tracks or mimics the phases of the moon as they pass through the sky, and it gives a relatively accurate depiction of time. Now before we get on to how the Celks celebrated the winter solstice, I wanted to mention something special. I've been working on for a good couple of months now. I've been taking really high-res, really high-quality photos, landscape photos from across Scotland and from across my travels of these beautiful isles. I'm now selling them on Etsy as digital photos, really high-quality photos that you can use as digital files, you know, for a screensaver for instance, or as digital art that you can maybe display on your TV. But you could also go and get prints of these photos and frame them on your wall. Please click the top link in the video description below that will take you to the full portfolio, and I've tried to price them as reasonable as possible, whilst obviously making it worthwhile for myself. And thank you for all your support and your support really helps me make better videos for yourselves. But thanks again and now on with the video. Ancient Celtic pagans would have massive celebrations around the winter solstice, not only to mark the dark part of the year and try and bring a little light to the dark part of the year, but also as an offering to the gods to ensure that the sun would rise again in the new year. On the solstice, Celtic priests would cut the mistletoe, they grew on the oak tree and give it as a blessing. Oaks were seen as sacred and the winter fruit of the mistletoe was a symbol of life in the dark winter months. According to an old Celtic myth, on the solstice each year, the oak king representing the light, and the holy king representing the dark would fight, with the oak king emerging victorious at the winter solstice, enabling the return of light. We also know that ancient cultures had astrological knowledge and the ability to track time to a reasonable degree, in the sense that they actually constructed monuments where the solstice would illuminate certain chambers at that particular time of year. New Grange, for instance, built around 3300 BC. On the 21st of December, the sun pierces through a particular point at New Grange. Druidic priests also maintained the tradition of the Yule log. Ancient Celtic people believed that the sun stood still for 12 days in the middle of winter and during this time a log was lit, using the remains of the previous year's fire. It was believed it would conquer the darkness, banish evil spirits and bring luck for the coming year. What are their winter solstice celebrations or other Celtic myths around this time of year do you find interesting? Please let me know in the comments below. Like I say, if you would like to support this work and help me make better videos, please check out the top link in the video description below that will take you to my Etsy store and an all my portfolio of photographs. There's also links to my merch store to buymeacoffee.com and to Patreon and thanks a lot for all your support over the last year or so. Please subscribe and hit the bell and tell your friends and family about this channel. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.