We are privileged to live on a planet such as our Earth. Of the several thousands of planets discovered over the past thirty years, most are gaseous and those few that have discernable hard surfaces appear to be rocky and barren, inhospitable for any one of a number of reasons. Some scientists remain optimistic that there are still planets capable of sustaining life as we know it “out there” somewhere (to paraphrase Fox Mulder) but others wonder where they are if this is truly so (to paraphrase Enrico Fermi.)
Of all the marvelous, even miraculous characteristics of our planet, our seasons rank close to the top of the list. We have four seasons. Two seasons lead us to some mild sense of darkness and death and two seasons where living things seem to literally explode from the soil bathed in light, color and brilliance. This is the circannual rhythm we are part and parcel to.
PERSEPHONE
The ancient Greeks had an explanation for the change in the seasons as they celebrated the Ἐλευσίνια Μυστήρια (the Eleusínia Mystḗria.) The mysteries began with Demeter, the Greek goddess of fertility and agriculture. Demeter had a daughter named Persephone. Persephone was the personification of life, itself. She is associated with grain, fruit-bearing shrubs (pomegranates) and deer among other things. She caught the eye of Hades, the god of the underworld one day, and he spirited her away to his deep, dark and dank realm, not unlike the basement of the Palais Garnier to where Erik whisked Christine Daaé in her time. During the time Persephone lived in Hell as Hade’s bride, all the bountiful flora on Earth withered away and life, itself, seemed increasingly ephemeral. Meanwhile, Persephone became more and more listless and withdrawn in her stygian circumstances. She wanted to return to the surface. She wanted to see the sky, breathe the air as she had before. In order to placate his bride, Hades agreed to let her spend half of each year on the surface and this reprieve became known as the seasons of spring and summer. But the six months of autumn and winter that followed signaled Persephone’s return to Hell. Perhaps the lowest point of this eternally repeating drama (at least in the Northern Hemisphere) is December 21st, the winter solstice. This represents the day of the year with the longest period of darkness and occurs when the sun reaches the furthest point south of the equator. On December 21st, the sun is in the constellation Sagittarius. On December 21st at the latitude where I live, there are almost fifteen hours of darkness. At the North Pole on that day, there is perpetual darkness. At the equator, there are only twelve hours of darkness.
THE WINTER SOLSTICE
The winter solstice is celebrated around the world. It was observed by some cultures and religions as the symbolic death and rebirth of the sun. Agrarian societies paid particular attention to the solstice because it was a reference point of when crops should be planted in some cases, or when livestock should be bred. In ancient Rome the solstice was celebrated as the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, or the birthday of the invincible sun, an important observance in the religion of Mithras who was a rival to Jesus Christ among Romans. It is possible that the Christian church appropriated December 25 to observe the birth of Jesus in order to co-op the worship of Mithras who was worshipped as the Sun God. More likely than not, the actual nativity of Jesus was at a completely different time of the year.1
WHEN-THE-EARTH-SLEEPS
The Iroquois once lived on the land that Deena and I do. The great Mohican sachem Skiwias lived walking distance from our present home. For twenty years, he held court and ruled the great Iroquios tribe. The Iroquois had a phrase to describe winter as the time “when-the-earth-sleeps.” The word for this term, which has been unfortunately lost is entirely appropriate. The season when-the-earth-sleeps is when a certain lethargy overcomes many of the creatures in North America as the geese fly south. Until the first frost arrived, these mammals have been satisfying their suddenly insatiable appetites. By the time the early snow appears, many have retreated to their cozy dens to spend the solstice in a state of torpor or semi-hibernation. Mice, bats and groundhogs enter into a state of hibernation. Other mammals, such as the chipmunks, black bears, raccoons, and striped skunks become dormant, which is a state of minimum metabolic activity. So, what is the difference between the two states? In simple terms, hibernation is sometimes referred to as “dormancy on steroids.” But the difference between the two states can be measured objectively in terms of brain waves and vital signs. Black bears, chipmunks and others that experience dormancy spend the winter days in a deep sleep, interrupted only long enough to nibble at some food they have stocked up and to excrete body waste. They then immediately fall back in a deep, dreamless sleep. Hibernating animals are aroused intermittently for the same reasons, but if they are disturbed too often during hibernation, it does not bode well. One of the unspoken miracles is that very few if any species of mammals give birth in the harsh weather of winter. Most births are postponed until Spring. And such it should be.
Cold and darkness are the adjectives often used to describe winter, so it is no wonder that some people are affected by changes in their mood. In fact, there is a term for this called “seasonal affective disorder” or SAD. Fortunately, there are treatments for this problem if it is correctly diagnosed and the SAD person seeks help. Often relief is found just by using a different sort of illumination in their house.
ADVENT
The word “advent” is a Latin word adventus which means “coming” or “to come.” If it is not immediately clear that this is a reference to Jesus, then the Greek equivalent (parousia) should make it more abundantly so as the Greek term refers to the Second Coming of Jesus, or in this context, the first arrival of the Messiah. Advent spans four Sundays, representing hope, peace, joy and love. Living wreaths with purple candles adorn may sanctuaries during Advent.
In nature, and again, only in the Northern Hemisphere, the darkness of winter has Mäuse und Menschen (mice and men) looking ahead to a restoration of the light, even as the people on the Greek Isles awaited the release of Persephone from Hades. The darkness of long winter nights provided opportunities for reflection on one’s life, interspersed with lonliness and a yearning for the sun to take its rightful place once again in the heavens. Even so, Advent accomplishes the same purposes, but particularly on a spiritual level. The cold of winter may piece one’s flesh, but the darkness of winter nights envelopes one’s soul.
By the time Christmas arrives (with the caveats mentioned above), the bend in the river has been negotiated and the days are now getting longer. The light of a new day breaks yonder, or as the prophet Isaiah (9:2) says:
“The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.”
A week after Christmas, one might find snowdrops (sometimes called milkflowers) peeking out of holes in the white carpeting across the fields and forests, particularly where the snow has grudgingly receded. Chickadees break out in song to welcome the change. Fawns are starting to quicken in the wombs of the doe and Orion is well on his way to the western sky, chasing his two hounds, who in turn chase the constellation Lepus, the hare with it’s 76 stars (only two of which have names.) They are soon to be seen no more. True, winter is not yet over. March, which come in like a lion is still months away, and a lot can happen in the meantime but, again, the corner has been turned and a new year with the promise of hope and new life once again fills the hearts of the faithful.
I pray that the hope of the cavity and resurrection light up your life in these troubled times, and that you will experience the hope, peace, joy and love of the advent season.
FOOTNOTES
1The more recent scholarship places the time of the likely birth of Jesus as September. One reason has to do with the shepherds in the fields with their sheep, which would be much less likely in winter. Also, the murder of the infants under Herod and the mention of a lunar eclipse at the time. The Roman-Jewish historian Flavius Josephus recorded that a lunar eclipse was visible in Jerusalem just before Herod’s death. For many years, it was believed that the eclipse took place on March 13, 4 BC. Finally:
“The Bible doesn’t give us the exact date of Jesus’ birth, however, there are a number of clues that enable us to make an educated guess as to the month of His birth. Luke tells us that God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth to announce the conception of Jesus to the virgin Mary “in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy.”
The conception and birth of John the Baptist by his mother, Elizabeth, provides us with one way of calculating the month of Jesus’ birth. Zechariah, Elizabeth’s husband was performing his once in a lifetime priestly duty in the temple when the birth of John the Baptist was foretold by the angel Gabriel.
Jewish priests were divided into 24 orders which ministered in the temple throughout the year. The order of Abijah, of which Zechariah was a part, was the eighth priestly division (1 Chronicles 24:6-19) and served in the temple during the tenth week of the priestly cycle. The start of the 10th week coincided with the second Sabbath in the Jewish month of Sivan, which runs approximately from mid-May to mid-June. Soon after Zechariah returned from his temple duties Elizabeth became pregnant with John the Baptist.
Therefore, using the biblical texts above we can guess the month of Jesus’ birth to be around the month of Tishri (mid to late September). To arrive at this date, we start at the conception of John the Baptist, Sivan (June), count forward six months to arrive at Gabriel’s announcement of the conception of Jesus, Kislev (December), then count forward nine more months, the time for a normal human pregnancy, to reach Tishri (September), when Jesus was most likely born.