It’s a well-known, but often ignored and resented, fact is that Christmas is a holiday built on the top of a number of other traditional celebrations.

The winter solstice is the most important, with it being an ancient and secular tradition to celebrate the shortest day of the year and the sun returning to the land.

It’s no coincidence that the solstice, winter in the northern hemisphere and summer in the southern, occurs just a few days before the day Christians decided would be celebrated as the birth of Christ.

The solstice is today, Dec. 21, and this video has a version of Silent Night specially written and recorded for the solstice. It won’t be for everyone but pagans everywhere will love the symbolism.