Israeli Jews bless the sun - Dies Natalis Solis Invicti

SHOOT: Isn't there an ancient tradition of Sun Worship belonging to just about every religion? I mean, isn't the biggest festival of the year based around an ex-Roman ritual or celebrating the winter solstice? And of course there's Easter Sunday which represents the resurrection of Christ for many Christians.

WIKI: Dies Natalis Solis Invicti means "the birthday of the unconquered Sun." The use of the title Sol Invictus allowed several solar deities to be worshipped collectively, including Elah-Gabal, a Syrian sun god; Sol, the god of Emperor Aurelian; and Mithras, a soldiers' god of Persian origin.[17] Emperor Elagabalus (218–222) introduced the festival, and it reached the height of its popularity under Aurelian, who promoted it as an empire-wide holiday.[18] This day had held no significance in the Roman festive calendar until it was introduced in the third century.[19]
Several early Christian writers connected the rebirth of the sun to the birth of Jesus.[3]

clipped from news.yahoo.com JERUSALEM (AFP) – Tens of thousands of Jewish faithful turned out before sunrise on Wednesday in front of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the country to bless the sun in a prayer said once every 28 years. Dressed in white prayer shawls, men and women, adults and children filled the plaza in front of the wall, Judaism's holiest site, and crowded onto nearby rooftops to catch a glimpse of the sun rising over the Holy City. As the faithful swayed back and forth in prayer, the area filled with the din of the Birkat Hakhama prayer. Elsewhere around Israel and the occupied West Bank, tens of thousands of observant Jews sought out hilltops and rooftops to catch the first rays of the sun to recite the prayer. Birkat Hakhama is said as the sun comes up to mark what according to Jewish tradition is the sun's return to its position at the moment that the universe was created 5,769 years ago. It returns to the spot once every 28 years.