Winter

Ignatius Donnelly

The Pyramid, the cross and the Garden of Eden

"Stern winter smiles on that auspicious clime,The fields are florid with unfading prime,From the bleak pole no winds inclement blow.Mould the round hail, or flake the fleecy snow;But from the breezy deep the blessed inhaleThe fragrant murmurs of the western gale."

Zoroastrian

Yima and the Vara

The story begins with Ahura Mazda foreseeing a catastrophic winter that would devastate the world.

This winter, known as the "evil winter," would last for an extended period and bring severe cold, snow, and ice, threatening all life on earth.

He instructed Yima to build a vara, an underground enclosure, to preserve the best of humanity, animals, and plants during the harsh winter.

The vara was to be a vast, underground shelter, meticulously designed to sustain life during the long winter.

It was large enough to accommodate a diverse selection of living beings, ensuring that the best representatives of each species would survive and repopulate the earth once the winter ended.

They remained there throughout the duration of the evil winter, safe from the external harsh conditions.

After the long winter had passed, Yima and the inhabitants of the vara emerged from their underground refuge.

They stepped into a world that had been cleansed and renewed by the winter.

Vara: The underground enclosure constructed by Yima to preserve life during the severe winter.

Ahura Mazda's Warning: Instructs Yima to prepare for the "evil winters" that will devastate the world.

Thus, under the sway of Yima, three hundred winters passed away, and the earth was replenished with flocks and herds, with men and dogs and birds and with red blazing fires, and there was room no more for flocks, herds, and men.

Thus, under the sway of Yima, six hundred winters passed away, and the earth was replenished with flocks and herds, with men and dogs and birds and with red blazing fires, and there was room no more for flocks, herds, and men.

Thus, under the sway of Yima, nine hundred winters passed away, and the earth was replenished with flocks and herds, with men and dogs and birds and with red blazing fires, and there was room no more for flocks, herds, and men.

Upon the material world the evil winters are about to fall, that shall bring the fierce, deadly frost; upon the material world the evil winters are about to fall, that shall make snow-flakes fall thick, even an aredvi deep on the highest tops of mountains.

'Before that winter, the country would bear plenty of grass for cattle, before the waters had flooded it.

Annie Besant

Beginning of the 5th Root Race

After this there was peace for a time for the colonists, and they cultivated their valleys, which were rather cold in winter, and blazingly hot in summer.

Man: Whence, How and Whither

Atlantean Peruvian Civilization

The same primitive apparatus was employed to find the date of the summer and winter solstices, since in connection with these periods there were special religious services.

Navajo

Legend of the Grand Canyon

The stories our people talk about in the oral history, the Coyote stories, and the winter stories have many references to this particular canyon.

There is a lot of history associated with this place, as I mentioned, with all the different stories—the winter stories, Coyote stories, and oral history.

Ancient cinnamon

Pliny the Elder recounted that cinnamon was transported around the Arabian peninsula on rudderless, oarless rafts using the winter trade winds .

Babylonian Calendar

Significance: Associated with the onset of winter.

It included festivals and rituals related to the winter solstice and ensuring the return of light and warmth.

A major Babylonian festival celebrated at the beginning of the New Year in the winter solstice period.

Various rituals were performed to ensure the return of light and warmth as days began to lengthen after the winter solstice.

As winter set in, there were rituals to prepare for the coming agricultural season and to bless the land and the people.

The onset of winter was also a time for community gatherings and feasts, strengthening social bonds and sharing resources.

Winter months often included ceremonies to honor the deceased, ensuring their peace in the afterlife and seeking their protection.

Duration: The festival lasted for about 12 days, culminating with the winter solstice.

Light and Darkness: The festival coincided with the winter solstice, the darkest time of the year, and celebrated the return of light.

Winter Solstice: Celebrated around the time of the winter solstice.

Timing: Akitu was primarily in the spring (Nisannu) and also in the fall (Tashritu), while Zagmuk was in the winter (Kislimu to Tebetu).

Primary Focus: Akitu marked the New Year and the renewal of the agricultural cycle, while Zagmuk focused on the winter solstice and the renewal of cosmic order.

Akitu is the better-known New Year festival, while Zagmuk is associated with the winter solstice and the theme of cosmic renewal.

Akitu Festival in Mesopotamia

Purpose: To mark the end of the agricultural year and prepare for the coming winter.

Sumerian

Mesopotamian Creation Myths

In “The Debate between Winter and Summer,” a Sumerian author explains that summer and winter, abundance, spring floods, and fertility result from Enlil’s copulation with the hills of the earth.

Archons

From the Hebrew term for "the Lord", used of God; Adonis of the Syrians representing the Winter sun in the cosmic tragedy of Tammuz.

Iroquois

Iroquois Creation Story

He created winter, but Sapling gave it life so that it could move to give way to Spring.

Interview with Reptilian Woman

Predictions were exceeded, and as a result, elements from excessive hydrogen-fusion fell into deadly radioactive fallout, resulting in a "nuclear winter" that lasted nearly 200 years.

Even if they survived, there was a nuclear winter and fallout that was more lethal than the explosion).

After 200 years of nuclear winter, Earth's temperature has become much colder than before.

artificial nuclear winter - colder than before

The sun Sol

From the Hebrew term for "the Lord", used of God; Adonis of the Syrians representing the Winter sun in the cosmic tragedy of Tammuz.

Poetic Edda

Winter they named it, and winter’s course, the first month, and the second, and third, they called— harvest-month and hay-month, and of the ‘long days’ afit, and ‘peace’ and ‘plenty,’ the ‘mildest of winters.’

Genesis 8

Waters decreased

[5] And the waters decreased continually until the tenth 10th month: in the tenth 10th month, on the first 1st day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.[6] And it came to pass at the end of forty 40 days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:[7] And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro moves around until the waters were dried up from off the earth.[8] Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;[9] But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.[10] And he stayed yet other seven 7 days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;[11] And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.[12] And he stayed yet other seven 7 days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.[13] And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first 601 years, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.[14] And in the second 2nd month, on the seven and twentieth 27th day of the month, was the earth dried.[15] And God spake unto Noah, saying,[16] Go forth of the ark, thou you, and thy your wife, and thy your sons, and thy your sons' wives with thee you.[17] Bring forth with thee you every living thing that is with thee you, of all pure flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.[18] And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:[19] Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.[20] And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD Enlil; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.[21] And the LORD Enlil smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD Enlil said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.[22] While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Amanita Muscaria and Sinterklaas

The tradition of the chimney sweep in Germany, which is thought to bring good luck and is associated with the winter solstice and the new year, is just one more example of how this mushroom has played a role in various cultural practices.

Good Luck Semi-Sweet Chocolate labels like the one shown here (which also depicts a lucky horseshoe), and even edible mid-winter gifts in which the chimney sweep's body is made of dried prunes.

I see in this sooty New year's mushroom-bringer the folkloric remains of a shamanic Winter Solstice tradition now long lost to history.

Siberian Shaman Santa Claus

Finally, the tradition of the chimney sweep and the cleaning of the hearth during winter solstice celebrations in Germany may also be related to the Amanita muscaria mushroom and its hallucinogenic effects.