Winter solstice 2021: the shortest day of the year and the official start of winter!

For six months, the days have shortened and the nights have lengthened in the Northern Hemisphere. But that is about to be reversed. The winter solstice of 2021, the shortest day of the year and the official start of winter, is this Tuesday, December 21. Its operation has fascinated people for thousands of years.

We will first look at science and the precise time of the solstice. Then we will discover some ancient traditions and celebrations around the world.

The science and time behind a winter solstice
The winter solstice marks the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, when the Sun appears in its southernmost position, directly overhead in the distant Tropic of Capricorn.

The situation is the other way around in the southern hemisphere. There, the December solstice marks the longest day of the year and the beginning of summer in places like Australia, Chile and South Africa.

When exactly does it happen?
The solstice usually, but not always, takes place on December 21. The time of the solstice and the day itself changes because the solar year (the time it takes for the Sun to reappear in the same place as seen from Earth) does not exactly coincide with our calendar year.

If you want to be super precise to observe it (and who doesn't want to be?), The exact time of the winter solstice of 2021 will be Tuesday at 3:59 p.m. Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) , according to EarthSky.org and the Almanac from the Farmer. That is almost six hours later than last year.

Here are some examples of when it will be 15:59 UTC at various local times in locations around the world. Due to the time difference, the solstice will technically fall on Wednesday in parts of East Asia.

Seoul: 12:59 am Wednesday
Bangkok: 11:59 pm Tuesday
Qatar: 6:59 pm Tuesday
Milan, Italy: 4:59 pm Tuesday
Orlando, Florida: 10:59 am Tuesday
Calgary, Canada: 8:59 am Tuesday
Honolulu: 5:59 am Tuesday

In which places can the effects of the winter solstice be most seen and felt?

Daylight decreases dramatically the closer you are to the North Pole on December 21.

People in warm Singapore, just 137 kilometers or 85 miles north of the equator, hardly notice a difference, with just nine minutes less daylight than during the summer solstice.

At higher latitude, Madrid, Spain, still clocks in a respectable nine hours and 17 minutes of light during the winter solstice.

The difference is most marked in frigid Helsinki, Finland, where the sun will rise at 9:23 am and set at 3:12 pm, resulting in less than six hours of anemic daylight. That’s 13 hours and seven minutes less daylight than Finns get during the summer solstice in June.Residents of Nome, Alaska will be even more deprived of sunlight with just three hours, 54 minutes and 31 seconds of very weak daylight. But that's downright generous compared to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. You are within the Arctic Circle and you won't see a single ray of daylight.

What makes the winter solstice happen?

Because the Earth is tilted on its axis of rotation, we experience the seasons. As the Earth moves around the sun, each hemisphere experiences winter when it moves away from the Sun and summer when it tilts towards the Sun.

Wait, why is the Earth tilted?

Scientists are not entirely sure how this happened, but they believe that billions of years ago, when the solar system was taking shape, the Earth was subjected to violent collisions that caused the axis to tilt.

What other seasonal transitions are there?

The equinoxes, both spring and fall, occur when the Sun’s rays are directly over the equator. In those two days, everyone has the same length of day and night. The summer solstice is when the Sun’s rays are farthest north over the Tropic of Cancer, giving us our longest day and the official start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

Winter solstice traditions and celebrations.

It is no wonder that many cultures and religions celebrate a holiday, be it Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or pagan festivals, which coincide with the return of the longest days.

Ancient peoples whose survival depended on an accurate knowledge of seasonal cycles commemorated this first day of winter with elaborate ceremonies and celebrations. Spiritually, these celebrations symbolize the opportunity for renewal, an abandonment of bad habits and negative feelings, and an embrace of hope in the midst of darkness as the days begin to lengthen once more.Many of the ancient winter solstice symbols and ceremonies are still alive today or have been incorporated into newer traditions. These are only some of them:

Alban Arthan

In the Welsh language, "Alban Arthan" means "Light of Winter" according to the Farmer's Almanac. It could be mankind's oldest seasonal festival. As part of Druidic traditions, the winter solstice is considered a time of death and rebirth.

Newgrange, a prehistoric monument built in Ireland around 3200 BC. C., is associated with the Alban Arthan festival.

Saturnalia

In Ancient Rome, Saturnalia began on December 17 and lasted for seven days. It honored Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture. People enjoyed carnival festivities that resembled modern Mardi Gras celebrations and even delayed war. Saturnalia continued in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD

As the Roman Empire came under Christian influence and eventual rule, some of the festival customs merged with celebrations around Christmas and New Years.

Dongzhi

Not only did ancient Europeans commemorate the annual occasion. The Dongzhi Winter Solstice Festival has its roots in ancient Chinese culture. The name roughly translates to "extreme winter".

They thought this was the apex of yin (from Chinese medicine theory). Yin represents darkness, cold, and stillness, making it the longest day of winter. Dongzhi marks the return of yang and the slow rise of light and heat. Dumplings, dumplings, are generally eaten for celebration in some East Asian cultures.

See you sooner as I can!

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