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| Earth lighting in the winter solstice |
The time of
the winter solstice was the occasion for major celebrations by nearly all
ancient peoples. It represents the time when the sun, after losing height for
six months, begins again to recover its upward movement. The ancients had always
the fear that some year the sun could fail to recover, and would continue down until
disappearing forever, a catastrophe for humanity.
In the
Roman Empire, the Saturnalia played that role, for Saturn was the god of
agriculture and the recovery of the sun was a sine qua non for the success of the next harvest. Also, just by
that time the sun entered the sign of Capricorn in the zodiac, which was
astrologically linked with the planet Saturn. The festival, which began on
December 17, lasted for several days, until the 23rd. During these days,
banquets were held, gifts were distributed, and masters served their slaves.
One of the
traditional deities of ancient Indo-European peoples, Mitra, had a varied fate,
according to the particular people we are talking about. Thus, in Vedic India
he was one of the chief gods, along with Varuna and the other asuras, but came to play a secondary role, almost
demonic, when in Hindu India prevailed the devas,
another group of gods including Siva and Vishnu.
