The gate of the year

Figure on the left:

Mosaic of the XII century, representing Saint John the Baptist, from the Palatin Chapel, Palazzo dei Normanni, Palermo, Italy.

[Image: http://library.artstor.org]

Figure on the right:

Marble statue of Saint John the Evangelist, realized by Donatello between 1408 and 1415 for the ancient front of the Cathedral of Florence, now in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence, Italy.

[Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sangiovannievangelista.jpg]

Heir of the pre-Christian solar cults, Christianity has explicitly employed the sun symbolism to represent Christ. The central moments of the journey of the sun in the sky during the year round became significant periods also for the Christian representation. The summer solstice, in particular, coincides, in the Mediterranean countries, with the crucial phase of harvest: it is the time to gather the fruit of the agricultural work. But it is also a time in which concerns about the accumulated food supplies can emerge, because they have to last until the end of next winter, while at the same time the hours of light begin to diminish, anticipating the changing of season. At the other extreme, the winter solstice, is placed in the darkest and coldest moment of the year, when the sun seems to weaken more and more. But this is also the moment of resurgence, of the length of the day that begins to grow: “the cold winter midnight gives birth to a child-sun” (Cardini 1995, p. 103), which Christians identified with the birth of the Saviour of Humankind. Both solstice periods have been put, in Christianity, under the protection of two Saint John: Saint John the Baptist, on June 24 (summer solstice), and Saint John the Evangelist, on December 27 (winter solstice). Folk tradition has put an association between the name Johannes and the ancient Roman god Janus, the god who opened the new year and who had given the name to the month of January, and both were regarded as associated with janua, the door. The two Saint John thus became the ianitores (“custodians, guardians”) of the solstice gates, the “gates of the year”, the two crucial times in the seasonal cycle (Gaignebet 1974, p. 55-56).




Feasts

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Figure on the left: Mosaic of the XII century, representing Saint John the Baptist, from the Palatin Chapel, Palazzo dei Normanni, Palermo, Italy. [Image: http://library.artstor.org] Figure on the right: Marble statue of Saint John the Evangelist, realized by Donatello between 1408 and 1415 for the ancient front of the Cathedral of Florence, now in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence, Italy. [Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sangiovannievangelista.jpg] Heir of the pre-Christian solar cults, Christianity has explicitly employed the sun symbolism to represent Christ. The central moments of the journey of the sun in the sky during the year round became significant periods also for the Christian representation. The summer solstice, in particular, coincides, in the Mediterranean countries, with the crucial phase of harvest: it is the time to gather the fruit of the agricultural work. But it is also a time in which concerns about the accumulated food supplies can emerge, because they have to last until the end of next winter, while at the same time the hours of light begin to diminish, anticipating the changing of season. At the other extreme, the winter solstice, is placed in the darkest and coldest moment of the year, when the sun seems to weaken more and more. But this is also the moment of resurgence, of the length of the day that begins to grow: “the cold winter midnight gives birth to a child-sun” (Cardini 1995, p. 103), which Christians identified with the birth of the Saviour of Humankind. Both solstice periods have been put, in Christianity, under the protection of two Saint John: Saint John the Baptist, on June 24 (summer solstice), and Saint John the Evangelist, on December 27 (winter solstice). Folk tradition has put an association between the name Johannes and the ancient Roman god Janus, the god who opened the new year and who had given the name to the month of January, and both were regarded as associated with janua, the door. The two Saint John thus became the ianitores (“custodians, guardians”) of the solstice gates, the “gates of the year”, the two crucial times in the seasonal cycle (Gaignebet 1974, p. 55-56).