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Winter solstice
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Also called
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Midwinter, Yule, the Longest Night
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Observed by
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Various cultures, ancient and modern
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Type
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Cultural, seasonal, astronomical
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Significance
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Astronomically marks the beginning of shortening nights and lengthening days
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Celebrations
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Festivals, spending time with loved ones, feasting, singing, dancing, fires
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Date
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Between December 21 and December 22 (NH)
Between June 20 and June 21 (SH)
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Frequency
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annual
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Related to
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Winter festivals and the solstice
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Winter solstice in Northern Hemisphere over Asia.
Winter solstice is an astronomical phenomenon which marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year. Winter solstice occurs for the Northern Hemisphere in December and for the Southern Hemisphere in June.
The axial tilt of Earth and gyroscopic effects of the planet's daily rotation keep the axis of rotation pointed at the same point in the sky. As the Earth follows its orbit around the Sun, the same hemisphere that faced away from the Sun, experiencing winter, will, in half a year, face towards the Sun and experience summer. Since the two hemispheres face opposite directions along the planetary pole, as one polar hemisphere experiences winter, the other experiences summer.
More evident from high latitudes, a hemisphere's winter solstice occurs on the shortest day and longest night of the year, when the sun's daily maximum elevation in the sky is the lowest.[1] The winter solstice itself lasts only a moment in time, so other terms are used for the day on which it occurs, such as "midwinter", or "the shortest day". For the same reason, it should not be confused with "the first day of winter" or "the start of winter" (Lidong in the East Asian calendars). The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days. The earliest sunset and latest sunrise dates differ from winter solstice, however, and these depend on latitude, due to the variation in the solar day throughout the year caused by the Earth's elliptical orbit (see earliest and latest sunrise and sunset).
Worldwide, interpretation of the event has varied from culture to culture, but many cultures have held a recognition of rebirth, involving holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations around that time.[2]
History and cultural significance
Japanese Sun goddess
Amaterasu emerging from a cave.
The solstice itself may have been a special moment of the annual cycle of the year even during
neolithic times. Astronomical events, which during ancient times controlled the
mating of animals, sowing of crops and metering of winter reserves between harvests, show how various cultural mythologies and traditions have arisen. This is attested by physical remains in the layouts of late Neolithic and
Bronze Age archaeological sites, such as
Stonehenge in Britain and
Newgrange in Ireland. The primary axes of both of these monuments seem to have been carefully aligned on a sight-line pointing to the winter solstice sunrise (Newgrange) and the winter solstice sunset (Stonehenge). Significant in respect of Stonehenge is the fact that the Great
Trilithon was erected outwards from the centre of the monument, i.e., its smooth flat face was turned towards the midwinter Sun.
[3]
The winter solstice may have been immensely important because communities were not certain of living through the winter, and had to be prepared during the previous nine months.
Starvation was common during the first months of the winter, January to April (northern hemisphere) or July to October (southern hemisphere), also known as "the
famine months". In temperate climates, the midwinter festival was the last feast
celebration, before deep winter began. Most cattle were
slaughtered so they would not have to be fed during the winter, so it was almost the only time of year when a supply of fresh meat was available. The majority of wine and beer made during the year was finally
fermented and ready for drinking at this time. The concentration of the observances were not always on the day commencing at midnight or at dawn, but the beginning of the pre-Romanized day, which falls on the previous
eve.
[4]
Since the event is seen as the reversal of the Sun's ebbing presence in the sky, concepts of the birth or rebirth of sun gods have been common and, in cultures using winter solstice based cyclic calendars, the year as reborn has been celebrated with regard to life-death-rebirth deities or new beginnings such as Hogmanay's redding, a New Year cleaning tradition. Also reversal is yet another usual theme as in Saturnalia's slave and master reversals.
Observances
Sunrise at Stonehenge on the Winter Solstice
Although the instant of the solstice can be calculated,[5] direct observation of the solstice by amateurs is impossible because the sun moves too slowly or appears to stand still (the meaning of "solstice"). Knowledge of when the event occurs has only recently been facilitated to near its instant according to precise astronomical data tracking. It is not possible to detect the actual instant of the solstice (by definition, one can not observe that an object has stopped moving until one makes a second observation in time showing that it has not moved further from the preceding spot, or that it has moved in the opposite direction). Further, to be precise to a single day, one must be able to observe a change in azimuth or elevation less than or equal to about 1/60 of the angular diameter of the sun. Observing that it occurred within a two-day period is easier, requiring an observation precision of only about 1/16 of the angular diameter of the sun. Thus, many observations are of the day of the solstice rather than the instant. This is often done by watching the sunrise and sunset or vice versa or using an astronomically aligned instrument that allows a ray of light to cast on a certain point around that time. Before the scientific revolution, many forms of observances, astronomical, symbolic or ritualistic, had evolved according to the beliefs of various cultures, many of which are still practiced today.
See also
References
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^ An Introduction to Physical Science, 12th Ed., James Ship-man, Jerry D. Wilson, Aaron Todd, Section 15.5, p 423, ISBN 978-0-618-92696-1, 2007.
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^ "Winter Solstice celebrations: a.k.a. Christmas, Saturnalia, Yule, the Long Night, start of Winter, etc.". Religious Tolerance.org. December 3, 1999. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
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^ Johnson, Anthony, Solving Stonehenge: The New Key to an Ancient Enigma. (Thames & Hudson, 2008) pp. 252–253
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^ "Christmas: An Ancient Holiday". History.com. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
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^ Meeus, Jean (2009). Astronomical Algorithms (2nd English Edition with corrections as of August 10,2009 ed.). Richmond, Virginia: Willmann-Bell, Inc.
External links
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Table of times/dates from 1600-2400
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Winter solstice and midwinter festivals
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Africa
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Americas
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Asia
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Europe
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† dagger indicates extinction. ° degree symbol indicates changes in date, name or location. ( ) indicate demographic
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