As we transit between the Christmas holiday and New Years I can’t help but reflect on what this time of year has meant to countless generations before. Our society celebrates the birth of Christ and the beginning of the new year within one week of each other. Other cultures celebrate their new year at a different time, and I even argued for altering the new year to reflect the beginning of spring in a previous blog appropriately called “Renewal;” you can find it on frankchambers.tumblr.com.

In the Julian calendar, the Winter Solstice was marked as December 25, and represented the point in time which the Earth was farthest from the sun. From this day onwards, the days would grow longer, and the potential of spring arriving grew greater each day. Because of the differences in the Julian and tropical calendar (which the Gregorian calendar follows), the solstice moved, aligning with our current solstice of December 21/22.

In the Roman dominated early Christian church, the date assigned to Christ’s birth coincided with the winter solstice - a day the sun returns to the Earth. Scripture suggests that the birth would have taken place in summer when shepherds would actually take their flocks out to graze and travel was common. The early church never flinched from aligning it’s holy days and traditions with those of the cultures in which it resided. So, from around 350 AD, Christmas and the Winter Solstice coincided.

As always, I am excited for the potential of a new year. People approach life with a fresh perspective, eager to make amends for past wrongs, and focused on changing their ways. While nothing has changed physically, their mental positioning can affect their reality. Of course, traditionally, New Year’s resolutions fall quickly by the wayside, unfortunate casualties to our ego’s destructive power. However, people with significant investment and a considerable exertion of will power can alter who they are. Here’s to making it happen!