Space and the festive season: more connected than you think
This week, we would like to share a few fun facts about how astronomy is intertwined with traditions and what it is like to celebrate them from space. Happy 380th Newtonmas!
This year, Christmas falls on the same dates as Hanukkah - the celebrations follow different calendars and rarely overlap. The Hebrew calendar is lunar, meaning that it is based on the moon's cycles, and the dates of the holidays on the Hebrew calendar change every year. Meanwhile, Christmas is always celebrated in December as per the Julian calendar. Some of us celebrate “Newtonmas” which is named after Isaac Newton, who was born on the 25th of December. This week, we’d like to share a few fun facts about how astronomy is intertwined with traditions and what it’s like to celebrate them from space. Happy 380th Newtonmas!
One connection between Christmas and astronautics is the story of the Magi, or wise men, who are mentioned in the Bible as having visited the newborn Jesus and brought him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The Magi are often associated with astronomy, as they are described as "wise men from the East" and are believed to have followed a bright star in the sky to the birthplace of Jesus. Some people believe that the "Star of Bethlehem," as this bright star is known, may have been an actual astronomical event, such as a comet, a supernova, or a conjunction of planets, while others see it as a symbolic representation of the importance of Jesus' birth.
Winter solstice and Christmas Day - not randomly close!
In addition to the story of the Magi, astronomy has also played a role in the calculation of the date of Christmas. The holiday is traditionally observed on December 25th, but this date was not chosen arbitrarily. It is not the actual birthday of Christ, even the year is up for debate. The date of December 25th was adopted due to the Roman practice of celebrating the sun's birthday. Around this time were festivals for the planet and Roman god Saturn as well as the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, which occurs around December 21st. The winter solstice was important to many cultures and was often marked with celebrations and rituals. By linking the holiday of Christmas to the winter solstice, early Christians may have been trying to give the holiday a sense of significance and universality that would appeal to people of different beliefs.
Celestial objects in festive decorations
The Christmas tree is a tradition that dates back to the 16th century, and it is often decorated with lights and ornaments that are meant to symbolize celestial objects such as stars, planets, and comets. Hanukkiah - a nine-branched candelabrum lit during the eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, might also correspond to the planets, resembling an (inaccurate) orrery – a (rotating) model of the planets in the Solar System. The lighting of the menorah is a way to remember the miracle of the oil and to celebrate the triumph of light over darkness, and it is a central part of the Hanukkah celebration. The lighting of the menorah is usually done in the evening - it is a time for families and communities to come together and share in the celebration.
First Christmas Eve in space
The first crew to spend Christmas in space was Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, and William A. Anders, who celebrated the holiday during a flyby of the Moon in December 1968, becoming the first people to leave Earth orbit. They commemorated the event on Christmas Eve by reciting the verses from the Bible's Genesis while broadcasting scenes of the moon passing below. It is estimated that one billion people in 64 countries tuned into their broadcast on Christmas Eve.
Space office parties: UFO pranks
Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) have always decorated their living spaces with holiday decorations, exchanged gifts with their colleagues, and participated in special meals and activities to celebrate the occasion. During the Gemini 6A mission, two astronauts decided to prank the mission control center. On December 16, 1965, Walter Schirra and Thomas Stafford reported a UFO sighting on the radio. They claimed to have observed an object orbiting the planet before patching the signal they supposedly received from the ship. At that moment, two crew members pulled out a harmonica and recited the famous song Jingle Bells. It was the first piece of music broadcast in space, and at first, it supposedly provoked real jitters for those who were on Earth.
16 New Year’s and champagne in the form of solid foam
New Year can be celebrated 16 times in orbit, while the station crosses different time zones. In 1995, a crew of Russian cosmonauts celebrated the New Year on board the Mir station. Elena Kondakova popped a bottle of Freixenet's Cordon Negro Brut cava, but the contents floated in the air like solid foam – in weightlessness, CO2 is not pushed out of the sparkling glass but is collected inside it. The last New Year was celebrated by a record number of 10 people from four countries aboard two space stations - the International Space Station and China's Tiangong Space Station. In fact, the International Space Station is sometimes referred to as ‘Santa’s sleigh’ and is often spotted by families searching for Santa on Christmas Eve.
Whether you are an astronaut orbiting the Earth, an astronomer studying the stars, or just someone who is fascinated by the universe, it is a great time to celebrate humankind’s achievements in space and what the future holds for us. Heading into 2023, it is truly exciting to observe how rapid innovation and the interaction between space technologies and humans will be shaping our cultures and traditions.
Thanks for the article! I heard that NASA tracks Santa’s sleigh every Christmas, but I didn’t know that they broadcast the location of ISS:)