Winter Solstice
The Winter Solstice is at 10:19 p.m. on Saturday
December 21, 2018 in the Central Time Zone in the United States.
The Earth’s axis is 23.5 degrees from being
straight up-and-down (thank goodness!!!). If the Earth did not tilt, the
Arctic and Antarctic would never see sun.
Daylight in every town would be about the same every day. Cities
on the equator would bake every day. The
tilt gives us the four seasons:
Winter - starting with that Winter solstice on
December 21, 2019 - the ‘shortest day’ in terms of daylight in the northern
hemisphere and the ‘longest’ day of sunlight in the southern hemisphere.
(You want sunshine and heat? Go to
Australia!!
Spring Equinox - starting on Thursday March 19,
2020 - - when there is approximately 12 hours of sunlight and 12 hours of
darkness - EVERYWHERE on the Earth.
Summer Solstice - June 20, 2020 - where the
northern hemisphere has the most daylight of any day in the year
Fall Equinox - September 22 - approximately 12
hours of sunlight and darkness
Those in the northern hemisphere tend to like
the Summer Equinox. Shakespeare wrote “A Midsummer’s Night Dream”. And
Mendelssohn also wrote music for the Shakespeare play (including the more
humorous Wedding March). Many older cultures in Europe celebrated Midsummer’s
eve.
Not many in the northern hemisphere celebrate
Winter solstice. If anything, we are glad to get it over and graduate get
more daylight (by a few minutes a day).
Meteorologists tend to call the seasons Winter -
from December 1st to February 28th (or 29th); Spring from March 1st to May 31;
Summer from June 1st to August 31; and Fall from September 1st to November
30th. For those in the northern hemisphere who are now going to wait
(patiently or not) for spring - there is a difference between the first day of
spring and the first spring (or spring-like) day.
According to the linked article there are some
old traditions for the Winter Solstice. Some Scandinavians have
celebrated Yule (or Juul) with Yule logs, bonfires (to symbolize the returning
of longer days and heat).
In England, on Winter Solstice, the sun’s rays
go directly through some of the stones at Stonehenge and some will observe
that.
I have friends that celebrated with a Winter
Solstice party at their house. They are Jewish, so having a true
“Christmas” party wasn’t quite in line with their faith, so a Winter Solstice
party might cut across their Christian, Jewish and other friends.
As for me, I am going to start looking for
longer days with sunlight - and (also for me) celebrate Christmas and New Year’s!!!
May your Winter Solstice bring back longer days
and put brightness in your hearts and minds!
Hugs!!
Karen
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