Yet another new year will soon arrive! I’m sure almost everyone is
glad to see 2021 go away. Old Father Time, known as Chronos (the source of
words like chronology and chronometer) to the Greeks, and Saturn to the Romans,
is still a feature of our new year celebrations. You know, the old bearded man with the
scythe, who hobbles away as the old year passes.
When I took high school
Latin, we were told “Io Saturnalia” meant Merry Christmas, sort of. Most of Roman history was pre-Christianity,
so Saturnalia was actually a pagan holiday celebrating the arrival of the New
Year, as well as the Winter Solstice, when the days gradually become longer (in the Northern Hemisphere).
Saturn was the
"grandfather" of the Gods, the father of Jupiter (Zeus in Greek) who
was, in turn, father of most of the rest of the gods in Greek mythology. I find it
interesting that old Saturn still shows up this time of year as Father Time, the
thing we cannot control, because it just marches on.
The planet Saturn was in the news in 2020, because Saturn and Jupiter were closer together in our viewpoint here on earth than they’ve been for over 600 years. Some hoped this was a good omen for the year 2021. Now that 2022 is on the horizon
, we need all the hope we can get!
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