![]() ![]() It celebrates the return of longer daylight hours and ultimately an increase of positive energy. In China and East Asia, the Dongzhi Festival is one of the most important times of the year. Serene Saturn by Damian Peach, Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016 Dongzhi Festival (Asia) The usual law and order would be suspended, schools and businesses would close, and quarrels would be forgotten. People would make sacrifices at the Temple of Saturn before banqueting and giving gifts. As the name suggests, the festival was celebrated in honour of Saturn, the father of the gods, the same deity after which the sixth planet in our solar system is named. In Ancient Rome, the festival of Saturnalia began on 17 December and lasted for seven days. Today the event is celebrated in some forms of Modern Paganism. Present day Christmas customs and traditions such as the Yule log, Yule boar, Yule singing, and others stem from pagan Juul. Fires would be lit to symbolise the heat and light of the returning sun and a Yule log was gathered and burnt in the hearth as a tribute the Norse god Thor. The pre-Christian festival, the Feast of Juul, was observed in Scandinavia at the time of the December solstice. Here are some of the festivals celebrated internationally, past and present: Yule (Neopagan) With the introduction of the Gregorian calendar the solstice slipped to the 21st, but the Christian celebration of Jesus’s birth continued to be held on 25 December. Under the old Julian Calendar, the winter solstice occurred on 25 December. The word “yule,” used to describe the Christmas season, is believed to come from the Norse word “jol” that referred to a winter solstice festival.Winter solstice is an important time for cultures across the globe. The daylight will be 3 hours and 54 minutes shorter than during next year’s summer solstice on June 20.Ħ. Yule never believe this, but. Daylight in Austin on Monday will only last about 10 hours and 11 minutes. Try to think of the word “equal” with equinox because it is the moment when the sun spends the same amount of time at the Earth’s equatorial plane, giving equal lengths to day and night.ĥ. It happened in Austin at 4:02 a.m. Like solstices, equinoxes happen twice a year but occur in the spring and fall. Similarly, summer daylight is longest in June, but July and August are normally hotter.Ĥ. It’s not the equinox. So even though we get the least amount of daylight in December, it’s typically much colder in January or February. Because the oceans absorb so much of the sun’s energy and release it over time, a seasonal lag exists between the amount of daylight and air temperatures. 2, 2021.ģ. It’s not the year’s coldest day. This season’s perihelion, or when our planet will be closest to the sun, falls on Jan. Ironically, the Earth is actually closest to the sun during the winter. ![]() During the summer solstice, the opposite occurs.Ģ. It’s NOT when Earth is farthest from the sun. The winter solstice is the moment when the North Pole is pointed the farthest away from the sun. That's because the Earth spins on a tilted axis, so we get winter when the Northern Hemisphere (where we live) is tilted away from the sun and gets less daylight. The day is still 24 hours long, but it includes the least amount of daylight. Here are six things to know about this annual event:ġ. It’s the year’s shortest day - or longest night. 1 and end the season on the last day of February.īut as far as the Earth is concerned, we greeted the season around 4 a.m. Monday, the day of the winter solstice. Meteorologists like to keep consistent weather records, so they start winter on Dec. But even under Newtonian laws of physics, that day can vary from year to year, from Dec. Astronomers look at the position of the Earth relative to the sun. The first day of winter sometimes depends on who you ask. ![]()
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