Indian Festivals

[Guest]

Another point to remember is that at least in Tamil Nadu, the period between mid-december and mid January is regarded as the time when the Devas are supposed to come down to Earth.

So the lamps are lit for them in the temples. Since the Winter Solstice falls in the middle of this period, there must have been a Vedic festival associated with it, which is now mostly lost. (Which may have become the root of Christmas later)

There may still be some very orthodox people who may know the significance of this, which is why I asked.

Another guess is that Makara Sankranti may be that festival. Due to the shifting of the planets the winter solstice may have moved back from January 14 to Dec 21 and we may have forgotten to update our calendar!

Although one guy I talked to denied this and said Makara Sankranti is different than the winter solstice.

The Kanchi Sankaracharya mentioned that the original Vedic new year began somewhere around the Winter Solstice to Jan 1 period and that we changed our calendars while the Europeans retained the older calendar.

The new year was called Agrahayani (spelling?), with some Havir yajna being perfomed on that day.