The Astronomy of Christmas and the Epiphany
I had an epiphany a while ago: I discovered that the Twelve Days of Christmas is most likely the observance of the relationship of two astronomical cycles and events.
What is an epiphany? It's defined as "a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience." In other words, an "Ah-ha!" moment. The word epiphany comes from Greek epi- a prefix meaning “upon,” “on,” “over,” “near,” “at,” “before,” “after," combined with phan "to show, see, or appear."
During the Christmas holiday (which is a contraction of Holy Day) season of 2005, I noticed a very interesting relationship between two astronomical events, one in December and one in January, that further research revealed occurs on the average of twelve days apart every year: twelve is the number of days between the December Winter Solstice and the date in January that the sun is at Perihelion (closest to the planet Earth).
If you look closely at the above picture of Mithras, you will see the signs of the zodiac arranged around the central image of Mithras slaying the bull (taurus). Mithraic imagery is very astronomically oriented. For a comprehensive explanation of the real astronomy behind the iconography and symbolism in Mithraism, see the wonderful book The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries: Cosmology and Salvation in the Ancient World by David Ulansey.
A couple of thousand years ago, the Winter Solstice was on the twenty-fifth of December, so Perihelion would have occurred around January 6. Due to calendar reform over the millennium, the Winter Solstice now falls as early as December 20, and as late as December 23, and Perihelion usually occurs between January 2 and 4, occasionally as late as January 5.
Astronomical events don't always follow an exact schedule, so the number of days between the Winter Solstice and Perihelion can be as few as 11 and as many as 14. However, on the average, the Winter Solstice and Perihelion are separated by twelve days – those Twelve Days of Christmas.
Update
No comments:
Post a Comment