Us above for videos on metaphysics, spirituality, alternative medicine/healing and more.The Winter Solstice Festival Everybody knows that in December, people celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah (and now, the newly minted African-American holiday, Kwanzaa), but how many realize just how closely related these different celebrations are? There’s a bit of controversy lately about "Happy Holidays" versus "Merry Christmas" but these supposedly separate celebrations are actually connected to the Winter Solstice. As metaphors they remarkably share a message thousands of years older than their respective religions. Furthermore, the explanation for these similarities is more Ice Age than New Age.What's a solstice? First, let me explain the solstice; From June to December, the number of daylight hours gradually decreases. In Los Angeles, in June, I get a daily dose of 13 hours and 30 minutes of daylight. By December 21st, it is down to 9 hours, 45 minutes of daylight. Today, we know this decrease has to do with the angle of the Earth in relation to the Sun. Not to get too technical, but the Earth's axis has a 23-degree tilt--it's not level like a toy top. As the planet revolves in its year-long cycle, that tilt causes parts of the globe to be closer to or farther from the Sun. This distance and the way the sunlight covers the Earth creates our seasons, so winter in the Northern hemisphere is summer in the Southern hemisphere and vice versa. To modern man, armed with this scientific knowledge, the Winter Solstice isn’t much, but it used to be a very big deal.Thousands of years ago, people noticed the days getting shorter and the sun traveling lower in the sky. They were alarmed. Many thought this was the end of the world. In Northern Europe at Winter, there would be up to 35 days without any glimpse of the Sun. As the Sun waned, people saw everything dead and dying. Without sunlight, there would be no plants, no animals and soon, no humans. In the...