The Father Sol

Have you ever considered why celebrations in today's post-modern society are dated the way they are? I suspect a sizable chunk of the population never have, which is a shame because if people did, they'd probably realise that despite appearances, humanity has hardly changed at all for thousands of years.

The title of this post may seem a little odd to you, what on Earth do I mean exactly by Father Sol? Well I should probably at this stage point out that I'm a Pagan. Before you jump to conclusions, that doesn't mean I sacrifice peoples pets to Satan, nor do I wear tie-dye and live in a camper van. You probably wouldn't notice anything abnormal about me as a person other than maybe the fact that I really can't be bothered to follow fashion and dress like a guy twenty years older. I don't even adhere to or acknowledge many of the Pagan holidays that I should do, but regardless, let me explain the Father Sol... thing.

To me it appears as no coincidence that Father's Day in most of the World happens to fall on the third Sunday of June every year. The reason for this, is that it happens to coincide roughly with the summer solstice which has a literally huge symbolic connotation.

In the vast majority of cultures, the Sun is seen to have a masculine quality whilst the Earth and the Moon are said to have feminine ones. With the exclusion of some Germanic tribes, this was certainly the general consensus across pagan Europe. In most lore, the summer solstice, the longest day and shortest night generally represents the Sun God when he is in the prime of his life. He shines brightly and the fruits of his fertility have successfully gotten spring through fruition, and life is now up and running, but from now on his power wanes until he begins his death and annual return around the winter solstice (which, being Christmas I'm sure you'll appreciate the apparent significance of this symbology.)

If we think about it, it is of no greater coincidence that Father's Day should be celebrated more or less on the summer solstice than Christmas should be celebrated on the winter solstice.

But how do we know that the ancient societies saw the Sun as the male force of all nature? 

Believe it or not, its really not that difficult to piece together. One big clue is at the famous Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England. At around midsummer, sunrise casts a long shadow from a carefully placed outlaying stone to directly inside the henge itself. Its symbol is self apparent. The Sun Father's shadow becomes a representation of a phallice which fertilizes the Earth Goddess (so it becomes apparent that perhaps the henge itself represents a womb.)

The diagram above shows the shadow cast at midsummer
sunrise towards the centre of the henge.

So, is there something behind it? If you're thinking that "oh, this is merely an ancient tradition that keeps having its meaning changed" I have some news for you. Maybe our ancient ancestors knew more than they were letting on to. As with most ancient wisdom which science is now only beginning to accept as reality, the Sun really does have a fertility element to it.

Just yesterday, news reports were posted accepting that women exposed to more sunshine are more likely to conceive children, similarly, older reports from a number of years ago concluded that sunshine also increases men's testosterone levels, obviously also aiding their fertility too. So, like many things ancient religious symbols and so on do not necessarily have to be out of date or tribal nonsense. 

In any case, it's my first Father's Day as a Daddy tomorrow, and as I'm also reaching late twenties at the end of this month, this Father's Day holds extra special meaning for me. And I intend to spend it doing like any proper man should. Drinking good quality beer and eating BBQ!

Have a good one all!