Seasonal

[poliphilo]

Here's something I got from Channel 4's Time Team.

Durrington Walls is the largest prehistoric henge in Britain.

Archaeologists digging at Durrington Walls have found rubbish pits full of pig bones.

Pigs farrow in the spring. These pigs had been slaughtered at nine months old. Ergo the people at Durrington Walls were in the habit of enjoying a slap-up pork dinner at the Winter Solstice.

"Jesus is the reason for the season"? Only if you accept that "Jesus" is just another name for the Sun.

Comments

[sorenr.livejournal.com]

Hardly surprising. Evidence of Norsee Yule celebrations go way beyond the time of the arrival of Christianity in the North, and in Scandinavia the name of the season remains "jul" rather than anything referring to Christ. "Jul" is of the same root as "hjul", meaning wheel, further emphasising the holiday's close afiliation with the circular view of the year that is ecchoed in most solstice and equinox celebrations throughout the world...

[cosmolinguist]

I like this, as far as explaining The Reason for the Season goes.