sunbeam

On Monday, Dec. 21, nations in the Northern Hemisphere mark the winter solstice – the shortest day and longest night of the year. For thousands of years people have marked this event with rituals and celebrations to signal the rebirth of the sun and its victory over darkness. At hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of missions stretching from northern California to Peru, the winter solstice sun triggers an extraordinarily rare and fascinating event – something that I discovered by accident and first documented in one California church nearly 20 years ago. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"30477","attributes":{"alt":"The 2007 midwinter solstice illumination of the main altar tabernacle of Old Mission San Juan Bautista, California. Rubén G. ","class":"media-image","height":"406","style":"width: 610px; height: 406px;","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"610"}}]] The 2007 midwinter solstice illumination of the