Solstice 2007 : Humanist Association of Manitoba

Celebration 2007: Winter Solstice

On December 22, the Humanist Association of Manitoba held a Solstice Party to remember at the Viscount Gort Hotel. Between 45 and 50 people attended, including members of the Village Green Morris Dancers. What is Solstice?

Barrie introduces Solstice Barrie Webster started the evening off with a talk about the history and context of Solstice. Among other factoids from his talk – Christianity poaches Solstice: Some 1600 years ago, Solstice happened on December 25. Emporor Constantine saw that Christianity's celebration on January 6 was not very popular so he declared that December 25 would be the big day. That date has held constant while Solstice, the celebrated end of the shortest day, moved with Earth's orbit to December 21 over time.

He also discussed HAM's long term support of the Sexuality Education Resource Centre (SERC). From their website: SERC is a community-based, non-profit, pro-choice organization. Our Mission: Promoting sexual health through education. Our Vision: A diverse society that celebrates sexuality throughout life.

Barrie introduced Lori Johnson of SERC. She gave a short talk on SERC's history, mission and work. HAM made a group donation. Throughout the evening, guests made contributions as individuals. We at HAM are proud to do our part.

Jeff, Barrie H, Steph, Lorraine and Phyliss compete for the prize. A variation on the classic "musical chairs" game was played. Participants were given the name of some common object. They had to try and retrieve it from the audience (or wherever) and return to their chair. Of course, one chair is removed. This final survivor was Steph (middle of pic). He walked away with a Starbuck's gift pack. BTW, Steph was visiting from Vancouver.

Donna and Barrie had put together a Solstice Quiz. The smartest person would win the big prize. But who wants to sit around marking quizzes? All were dropped in a bag. One was drawn, and there being a name in the top left corner, the prize was awarded. Following this powerful intellectual challenge, Barrie did a demo of the Solstice astronomical phenomenon by carrying a globe around the room. Donna acted as the sun by pointing a flashlight at the globe. No pictures are available.

Earlier in the evening, 10 tickets were given to each person as they arrived. Each person allocated tickets to one of five door prizes, including such goodies as The Portable Atheist book, an ecological calendar, a one year subscription to Canadian Freethinker magazine, a Flying Spaghetti Monster tshirt and other good stuff.

After dinner, it was time for the Village Green morris dancers of Winnipeg. They provide their own accompaniment with a violin, two pipes and a drum. The dancers themselves are part of the sound, being loaded with bells and often using sticks to beat time.

Barrie introduces Solstice They were the highlight of the evening. Morris dancing is traditional English folk dancing. It goes back at least 500 years. It may be related to ancient fertility rites, agricutural variety (source). Movement is fast and somewhat intricate, and a pleasure to watch. We were told they always do a Solstice dance, gratis (although one of the dancers got a door prize, and HAM paid an honorarium).

They invited any of us who could keep up to join their group. I saw no takers – perhaps a comment on the fitness of dancers as opposed to the rest of us.

After that, the party began to break up. But not before many pics were taken and people took the opportunity to catch up with old friends and new.

What is Winter Solstice?

Because the earth is tilted on its axis, the light from the our sun illuminates it from different angles as the year progresses. As of December 22 at 06:08 UT (00:08 in Winnipeg) in 2007, the earth's northern most regions are tilted as far from the sun as possible. The effect is to make this the shortest day for those of us north of the equator and the longest day for those south of the equator.

Summer Solstice finds the earth has orbitted to the other side of the sun, and now the northern hemisphere is tilted toward the sun. Summer solstice marks our longest day.

Throughout history, people have observed these phenomena and created both celebrations and technology to mark them. The Winter Solstice is particularly important to northerners as it marks the beginning of the return to longer days. To some, the return of the sun itself. While the deep freeze will continue, Winter Solstice means longer and eventually warmer days ahead.

Additional information:

US Naval Observatory page: The Seasons and Earth's Orbit describes the physical aspects.
ReligiousTolerance.org has lots of information on the Solstice as it relates to dozens of historical and modern groups.
The Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education at the University of Alberta Reasons for the Seasons flash movie showing the tilt, orbit and seasons.


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	Celebration 2007: Winter Solstice On December 22, the Humanist Association of Manitoba held a Solstice Party to remember at the Viscount Gort Hotel. Between 45 and 50 people attended, including members of the Village Green Morris Dancers. What is Solstice? Barrie Webster started the evening off with a talk about the history and context of Solstice. Among other factoids from his talk – Christianity poaches Solstice: Some 1600 years ago, Solstice happened on December 25. Emporor Constantine saw that Christianity's celebration on January 6 was not very popular so he declared that December 25 would be the big day. That date has held constant while Solstice, the celebrated end of the shortest day, moved with Earth's orbit to December 21 over time. He also discussed HAM's long term support of the Sexuality Education Resource Centre (SERC). From their website: SERC is a community-based, non-profit, pro-choice organization. Our Mission: Promoting sexual health through education. Our Vision: A diverse society that celebrates sexuality throughout life. Barrie introduced Lori Johnson of SERC. She gave a short talk on SERC's history, mission and work. HAM made a group donation. Throughout the evening, guests made contributions as individuals. We at HAM are proud to do our part. A variation on the classic "musical chairs" game was played. Participants were given the name of some common object. They had to try and retrieve it from the audience (or wherever) and return to their chair. Of course, one chair is removed. This final survivor was Steph (middle of pic). He walked away with a Starbuck's gift pack. BTW, Steph was visiting from Vancouver. Donna and Barrie had put together a Solstice Quiz. The smartest person would win the big prize. But who wants to sit around marking quizzes? All were dropped in a bag. One was drawn, and there being a name in the top left corner, the prize was awarded. Following this powerful intellectual challenge, Barrie did a demo of the Solstice astronomical phenomenon by carrying a globe around the room. Donna acted as the sun by pointing a flashlight at the globe. No pictures are available. Earlier in the evening, 10 tickets were given to each person as they arrived. Each person allocated tickets to one of five door prizes, including such goodies as The Portable Atheist book, an ecological calendar, a one year subscription to Canadian Freethinker magazine, a Flying Spaghetti Monster tshirt and other good stuff. After dinner, it was time for the Village Green morris dancers of Winnipeg. They provide their own accompaniment with a violin, two pipes and a drum. The dancers themselves are part of the sound, being loaded with bells and often using sticks to beat time. They were the highlight of the evening. Morris dancing is traditional English folk dancing. It goes back at least 500 years. It may be related to ancient fertility rites, agricutural variety (source). Movement is fast and somewhat intricate, and a pleasure to watch. We were told they always do a Solstice dance, gratis (although one of the dancers got a door prize, and HAM paid an honorarium). They invited any of us who could keep up to join their group. I saw no takers – perhaps a comment on the fitness of dancers as opposed to the rest of us. After that, the party began to break up. But not before many pics were taken and people took the opportunity to catch up with old friends and new. What is Winter Solstice? Because the earth is tilted on its axis, the light from the our sun illuminates it from different angles as the year progresses. As of December 22 at 06:08 UT (00:08 in Winnipeg) in 2007, the earth's northern most regions are tilted as far from the sun as possible. The effect is to make this the shortest day for those of us north of the equator and the longest day for those south of the equator. Summer Solstice finds the earth has orbitted to the other side of the sun, and now the northern hemisphere is tilted toward the sun. Summer solstice marks our longest day. Throughout history, people have observed these phenomena and created both celebrations and technology to mark them. The Winter Solstice is particularly important to northerners as it marks the beginning of the return to longer days. To some, the return of the sun itself. While the deep freeze will continue, Winter Solstice means longer and eventually warmer days ahead. Additional information: US Naval Observatory page: The Seasons and Earth's Orbit describes the physical aspects. ReligiousTolerance.org has lots of information on the Solstice as it relates to dozens of historical and modern groups. The Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education at the University of Alberta Reasons for the Seasons flash movie showing the tilt, orbit and seasons.
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