One of the more important aspects of my work is to bring to light the ancient religious practice of aligning sacred sites with astronomical events, such as the daily, weekly, monthly and annual movements and phases of the sun, moon and other celestial bodies. This practice dates back thousands of years in countless archaeological sites globally, across a vast diversity of cultures from numerous eras. Astronomically aligned sacred sites can be found in so-called Pagan sites, as well as those of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The combination of the astronomical alignments with sacred sites is expressed in what is called "astrotheology," which is most apparent in the myths of the various cultures who built these monuments.
In the following news item appear yet more examples of this age-old tradition, as found within Christianity in particular. The fact that winter-solstice alignments, for instance, are discovered at Christian sites reflects that their architects and builders were well aware of the significance of that date, originally the "birth" of the year's new sun but observed for over 1,700 years as "Christmas" or the purported birth of Jesus Christ. It is clear that in marking this date and celebrating this holiday, Christians were merely latching onto a very ancient, astrotheological practice shared by numerous cultures worldwide.
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