Not Quite 12 Days of Blogging: Six Christmas and Winter Solstice Links

On the first day of my Not Quite 12 Days of Blogging, I gave to thee one Superman/Batman Advent Calendar. On the second day of my Not quite 12 Days of Blogging, I gave to thee my 5 takeaways from my final Shadowrun Missions session. You: Uh, Matt, the song doesn't go like that... Me: I am not following the numerical order of the song? You:.... On the third day of my Not Quite 12 Days of Blogging, I gave to thee three Star Wars Radio Plays! Me: Happy now?


And...


On the fourth day of my Not Quite 12 Days of Blogging, I gave to thee... six Christmas and Winter Solstice/Yule related links! Me: Take that proper countdown of the song!


Today, December 21st marks the Winter Solstice, which many cultures celebrate including the holiday know as Yule.


Time Magazine published an article (so no clue how long this will be freely available...) on how four distinct cultures celebrate the winter solstice. They are the Krampus run in Austria, the Newgrange lottery in Ireland, fruit baths of Japan, and at Stonehenge. You can read it here.


Puzzled by the Newgrange tomb and its connection to the Winter Solstice? Fret not, National Geographic published a lengthy piece on megaliths and solstices. Here is the link.


Now on the Christmas-related links!


Here is twenty, yes 20, Peanuts Christmas comic strips courtesy of GoComics. Time for some comic strip content albeit via a link on this blog!


I love reading how different cultures spend the holidays. For example, here is how modern-day Icelanders celebrate Christmas from Christmas Eve to the Feast of the Epiphany.


Speaking of other cultures, Poland has not one, not two, but six Santa-type figures! You can read about the six different gift-givers and 16,000+ ways a Polish child can, or not if deemed naughty, by read this article.


What better way to conclude this collection of Christmas and Winter Solstice links than one that examines where Santa is buried! Okay, okay. Not Santa. The man who inspired the character, Saint Nicholas. Rather, where is bones may be scattered across the globe. You can read the National Geographic article here.


Happy Winter Solstice!


Next time.