Christmas Past

The ancients observed the sun, moon and stars. They lived by nature and knew when to plant and when to harvest, when to feed the beasts and when to kill and salt. They would place a post in the ground to measure the length of the shadow cast each day. At midsummer and midwinter, the sun appears to stand still for three days, hence the name 'solstice' from the Latin 'stetit', when the sun appears to ‘stand still’.

Carvings on Long Meg in Cumbria are aligned with the sunset at midwinter. In 4AD the church changed the calendar so the equinox provided a consistent date. The date for Christmas was not changed. Many ancient stone circles are aligned with the sun festivals, such as Stonehenge, and Mays Howe.   

The sun was thought by the Greeks to be hauled across the sky each day by Apollo in his chariot. Christmas falls on 25th December rather than on the winter solstice because in the time of Julius Caesar, the calendar was obviously out. As it was based on the ancient Egyptian calendar that was 3000 years old in Julius' day, he introduced in 45BC the Julian Calendar.