For millennia, cultures around the world have devised ways to celebrate and revere these celestial events—from building structures that align with the solstice to throwing raucous festivals in its honor.
Though the purpose of the enigmatic English structure Stonehenge remains unknown, this 5,year-old monument has a famously special relationship with the solstices. In Egypt, the Great Pyramids at Giza appear to be aligned with the sun as well. When viewed from the Sphinx, the sun sets between the pyramids of Khufu and Khafre during the summer solstice—though it remains unclear precisely how the ancient Egyptians oriented it this way. Many cultures have found unique ways to mark the summer solstice.
The traditional Scandinavian holiday of Midsummer welcomes it with maypole dancing, drinking, and romance. During the Slavic holiday of Ivan Kupala , people wear floral wreaths and dance around bonfires, while some plucky souls jump over the fires as a way of ensuring good luck and health. In a more modern tradition, the people of Fairbanks, Alaska, swing in the summer solstice with a nighttime baseball game to celebrate the fact that they can get up to The Midnight Sun Game has been played times now since The winter solstice has had its share of celebrations, too.
The festival is still celebrated throughout the Andes, and since , a reconstruction of Inti Raymi has been staged in Cusco, Peru, less than two miles from its Inca Empire home.
Ancient Romans celebrated the winter solstice with Saturnalia , a seven-day festival that involved giving presents, decorating houses with plants, and lighting candles.
And Iranians celebrate Yalda in December. In the U. Likewise, thermometers hit their high in the U. Growth lines on fossil corals show that more than million years ago, days on Earth lasted less than 22 hours. Picture a figure skater twirling on their skates; they can speed up or slow down their twirls by how much they tuck in their limbs.
It lasted less than four milliseconds longer than the recent average. All rights reserved. What are solstices? The solstice through history. Share Tweet Email. Read This Next Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London. Animals Wild Cities Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London Love them or hate them, there's no denying their growing numbers have added an explosion of color to the city's streets.
India bets its energy future on solar—in ways both small and big. Many people believe that Earth is closer to the Sun in the summer and that is why it is hotter. And, likewise, they think Earth is farthest from the Sun in the winter. It is true that Earth's orbit is not a perfect circle. It is a bit lop-sided. During part of the year, Earth is closer to the Sun than at other times. However, in the Northern Hemisphere, we are having winter when Earth is closest to the Sun and summer when it is farthest away!
Compared with how far away the Sun is, this change in Earth's distance throughout the year does not make much difference to our weather. Earth's axis is an imaginary pole going right through the center of Earth from "top" to "bottom. That is why we have day and night, and why every part of Earth's surface gets some of each. It is important for meteorologists to be able to compare climatological statistics for a particular season from one year to the next—for agriculture, commerce, and a variety of other purposes.
Thus, meteorologists break the seasons down into groupings of three months. Meteorological winter starts on December 1 and includes December, January, and February. Did you know? For the ancient Celts, the calendar was based around the solstices and equinoxes, marking the Quarter Days, with the mid-points called Cross-Quarter Days.
Learn more about the Celtic calendar. Thousands of people celebrate the solstices at Stonehenge in England. Due to the alignment of the stones, experts acknowledge that the design appears to correspond with the use of the solstices and possibly other solar and lunar astronomical events in some fashion. At sunrise at Stonehenge on the summer solstice longest day of the year , the Sun appears to balance perfectly on one of the stones.
Here at the Almanac, we love our weather folklore. Here are just a few of the many proverbs that we have collected in our archives:. Read more winter weather folklore. Winter inspires both joy and woe. Other people dislike the frigid temperatures, blizzards, and wild weather for good reason. In colder regions, winter often means shoveling, snowblowing, dealing with bad roads, and sometimes unbearable temperatures. In warmer regions, the winter temperatures become very mild or cool, and places such as Florida fill up with people escaping the harshness of a northern winter.
What about that winter weather? I live on the NW coast of England old England that is and the Winters in this part of the world are usually cold, wet and windy. However, one of the best scenes in the world is on a crisp sunny winters morning coming over the brow of the hill on the 13th hole at Morecambe golf club and seeing the snow capped hills of the Lake District over the calm waters of the bay, it lifts the soul and takes my mind off the awful golf shot I have just made.
Winter in Chicago was magical when I was a child, challenging as an adult, but always clean and lovely in forest preserves while cross-country skiing, skating or zooming downhill in a toboggan. Now in the Pacific NW, winter is grey, rainy and mild with rarer snowfalls that stop traffic cold! Since I am a "furlough baby" and born in January, Winter will always be a favored season with sweet memories of skating, hot chocolate and home baked cookies, breads and pies. I miss a bustling downtown, shopping at Marshall Fields and meeting friends"Under the clock", lunching in the Walnut Room and a photo with Santa.
Great memories! We here in southwestern Florida love winter. We are glad to see Summer go and take the heat, humidity, storms and bugs with it. We generally are treated to the best weather in the Country during the six months including November through April.
Yes, Summers are pretty nasty here, but those 75 degree January days are worth the Summer suffering. I loooove Winter. Even all those Chicago winters I trudged through. Love the low winter sun. It creates that moody glow. In Texas now, it never snows. Looking forward to retirement somewhere northerly so I can enjoy the seasons once again.
I'll take winter over summer any day in South Carolina!! In summer the humidity is jungle-like and then you have to deal with hornets,wasps,snakes,etc.. Your last line; " I couldn't ask for more, Thank You, and I wish you and all the same. Welcome back Sun What I was hoping for in this article is an answer as to what date is the Earth actually closest to the sun, and how does that effect the amount of daylight, and temperature?
Great question! Earth always reaches perihelion a couple weeks after the December solstice and similarly reaches aphelion after the June solstice. On January 2, , we will be at perihelion and approximately 91,, miles away from the Sun. Read more about it here. This means that the small increase of solar energy that we receive when Earth is at perihelion is not significant enough to result in any noticeable change in our weather. Bring back the light!! I'm not enjoying the winter so far and it's only the beginning.
Feeling alot of claustrophobia this year. The darkness, cold, and snow don't help. The Tradition of the solstices and Equinoxes being the start of the seasons is a very recent tradition. In the Ancient Pagan religions, they are the midpoints of the seasons! The Winter Solstice is the celebration of the return or rebirth of the Sun God.
This marks the days getting longer or the transition from the dark of winter to the light of spring. I had always been a cold season person Alot can get done when it is light until 9!
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