Literary notes about Solstice (AI summary)
The word "solstice" in literature is used not only as a precise astronomical marker but also as a rich symbol of cultural and religious transition. In works like Frazer’s The Golden Bough, the solstice marks the time for vibrant communal celebrations across diverse cultures ([1], [2]), while Tacitus acknowledges its universal, though sometimes misunderstood, significance ([3]). Other texts employ the term to evoke seasonal transformations—Jules Verne reflects on the descending rays at the summer solstice ([4], [5]), and Plutarch situates this moment as the herald of summer ([6]). Moreover, the solstice often carries spiritual overtones, as seen in Yogananda’s accounts of personal and communal winter solstice celebrations in hermitages ([7], [8], [9]). Whether used to delineate the turning point of the year or to underline mystical rites and festivals, "solstice" serves as both a temporal landmark and a symbol loaded with ritual significance in literature ([10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15]).
- The Esthonians of Russia, who, like the Magyars, belong to the great Turanian family of mankind, also celebrate the summer solstice in the usual way.
— from The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by James George Frazer - The coincidence of the festival with the summer solstice can hardly be accidental.
— from The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by James George Frazer - Tacitus here seems to affirm this as universally the case, not having heard that, at the winter solstice, there is a night of equal duration.
— from The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus by Cornelius Tacitus - At that time, the summer solstice of these southernmost districts, the sun had started back down, and tomorrow it would cast its last rays.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - At this period, the summer solstice of the northern regions, it had begun to descend; and to-morrow was to shed its last rays upon them.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne - The time of year was the beginning of summer, near the solstice at the end of the month Thargelion.
— from Plutarch's Lives, Volume 1 (of 4) by Plutarch - end of class="blockgraphic" Last Solstice Festival celebrated by Sri Yukteswar, December, 1935.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda - The winter solstice celebration was held in Serampore; the first one I attended left me with a permanent blessing.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda - A Winter Solstice Festival was celebrated at the end of December in the Serampore hermitage.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda - Upon that day the ‘Druids and bards’ at Pontypridd held the usual feast of the summer solstice in the face of the sun.
— from British Goblins: Welsh Folk-lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions by Wirt Sikes - According to others he wrote two books, and no more, about the solstice and the equinox; thinking that everything else was easily to be comprehended.
— from The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius - At Syene there is a well which indicates the summer solstice, because these places lie under the tropical circle, 887
— from The Geography of Strabo, Volume 3 (of 3) by Strabo - It then turns towards the winter solstice, as far as Issus, and thence immediately makes a bend to the south to Phœnicia.
— from The Geography of Strabo, Volume 3 (of 3) by Strabo - As regards the well which served to ascertain the instant of the solstice, Pliny and Arrian both mention it.
— from The Geography of Strabo, Volume 3 (of 3) by Strabo - The time of their incursion is from the summer solstice to the middle of winter.
— from The Geography of Strabo, Volume 3 (of 3) by Strabo
