By Mountain-Pacific Quality Health
December 21, 2022
The winter solstice, also called the shortest day of the year, occurs in December every year. But despite its yearly frequency, many people do not know what the winter solstice is or the history behind it. Whether you are curious or just want to brush up on your trivia, keep reading for some winter solstice facts.
Second First Day of Winter
Do you remember already seeing the first day of winter on your calendar? That is because there are two first days of winter. December 1 is the meteorological first day of winter, while December 21, the winter solstice, is the astronomical first day of winter.
Meteorologists, those who forecast the weather, and climatologists, those who study climate change, defined the meteorological seasons, so the four seasons coincide with the weather we expect to see for each season. This practice first started in 1780 when the first meteorological society Societas Meteorologica Palatina was founded. Although it was dissolved in 1795, meteorologists around the world continued to follow their example.
The astronomical seasons, however, were created of years ago. Several cultures around the world independently discovered the dates of the two solstices and the two equinoxes. They used these dates to track time long before the first calendars, knowing when to plant, when to harvest and, in the case of the winter solstice, when to look forward to longer days!
Not a Day, But a Time
Most calendars show the date of the winter solstice, but this can be misleading. This year the winter solstice is on December 21, but it does not last all day. In fact, the winter solstice is the exact time the northern hemisphere is tilted furthest from the sun. This year, the winter solstice will happen at 2:48 p.m. Mountain time.
The winter solstice is also known as the shortest day of the year. Due to the angle of the sun and Earth, we experience the shortest amount of time between sunrise and sunset.
See to Believe
If you go outside at noon on the winter solstice and look at your shadow, it will be your longest noontime shadow of the year. Why? Because the sun is at its lowest noontime point of the year.
On the other hand, if you look at your noontime shadow on the summer solstice, you will notice it is barely there. The sun is at its highest point in the northern hemisphere sky, almost directly overhead!
Latin Roots
“Solstice” can be translated from the Latin sol (“sun”) and sistere (“to stand still”) to mean “sun stands still.” It was given this name, because on the winter (and summer) solstice, the sun’s daily path across the sky appears to stop, or stand still, before reversing direction.
Colder Days to Come
Many people expect temperatures to start to rise after the winter solstice, but they will have to wait. Even though the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, temperatures continue to fall for a while.
During summer and fall, oceans and land masses in the northern hemisphere hold onto more heat during the day than they lose at night. The extra heat from summer and fall keeps the northern hemisphere warmer than it otherwise would be for the first weeks of winter.
Celebrated Around the Globe
Many cultures around the world have celebrated the winter solstice for thousands of years. Several even built temples, monuments or other structures to align with the sun on the winter solstice. The tomb of Newgrange in Ireland is a great example. Newgrange was built so the rising sun on the winter solstice shines directly into the tomb, flooding the chamber with light. This is impressive when you consider the monument was built thousands of years ago and is older than the Great Pyramid of Giza!
Examples of winter solstice celebrations include Saturnalia in ancient Rome, Yule for the Germanic peoples of Europe and Scandinavia and, perhaps most notably, the Dongzhi Festival in China, Japan and a number of other East Asian countries. This celebration can trace its roots back over 2,000 years and is still observed to this day!
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