End Date Discussion

Alpha Solstmas new end date : January 4th or, if Jan 4th is on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, the first Monday following the 4th of January.

From 2007 to 2012, Solstmas ended officially on January 6th.

The first couple beta Solstmases ended on January 4th, a date chosen largely by the recovery time from the New Year's Eve events and related issues.

In 2006, substantial discussion occurred about extending the date to include some Mexican and other traditional dates that are Solstmas related. Solstmas 2007 saw considerable discussion about both beginning and end dates and it became clear that January 4th was the wrong end date for Solstmas (keeping in mind Solstmas is descriptive, not prescriptive).

Arguments for changing Solstmas End Date to Jan 6th (taken from the discussions and submissions):

• January 6 is the 12th day of Christmas--aka Three Kings Day, and the Irish celebrate it as "Little Christmas" or "Women's Christmas". It is also one of two dates used for Armenian Christmas, plus it's the observed ceremonial birthday of Haile Selassie who's big with Rastafarians. As an added bonus, it is the day that Joan of Arc, Benjamin Franklin, and Khalil Gibran were born, and the day Don Martin died. Ah, MAD magazine...

• In Japan January 7th is Nanakusa (the Seven Herbs Festival), in Italy it is Tricolour day, and all across Europe the 7th is celebrated as "Distaff Day," a day when women's traditional work begins again (perhaps following Women's Christmas?), which means that the womenfolk can get the housework done and clean up after the parties, while the men lie around for one more day and watch. And the 7th is also the day that fire destroyed Jamestown, Virginia, so there's that, too... (I heard the fire was started by some disgruntled chick cleaning out a wood-burning stove.)

• "From where we lie right now, cracked out and discombobulated [from staying up all night on New Year's Eve] we have determined that solstmas should end on January 6th or 7th. Also this goes with many Euro traditions where they get gifts on January 6th. So January 6th, not 4th it ends."

• "We've even come up with some good reasons for January 6th. Its the Orthodox Xmas (sorta, spiro sez its lunar based) Its Ephiphany (more xtian stuff) And most importantly its the day after the 12 days of xmas which were invented to co-opt saturnalia celebrations of the romans. Thus with this kinda historic precendent we think solstmas should end on the greek orthodox xmas or January 6th, whichever is later."