Winter Solstice 2020: The shortest day of 2020 is Monday, December 21. This is known as the winter solstice, marking the day of the year with the fewest sunlight hours.
Winter Solstice also marks the beginning of Christmas and New Year celebrations worldwide. The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days. Besides this Winter Solstice also marks the Global Orgasm Day.
The word solstice literally means, in Latin, that the sun is standing still. That’s because it marks the point when one of the Earth’s poles has its maximum tilt away from the Sun.
Two solstices occur annually, around June 21 and December 21. In many countries, the seasons of the year are determined by reference to the solstices and the equinoxes.
The term solstice can also be used in a broader sense, as the day when this occurs. The day of the solstice in either hemisphere has either the most sunlight of the year (summer solstice) or the least sunlight of the year (winter solstice) for any place other than the Equator
In the southern hemisphere, the seasons are flipped compared to the northern hemisphere. That means December, January and February are the height of summer in countries like Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. So the December 22 solstice falls in the middle of their summer, while the June solstice is their winter.
In the Hindu calendar, two sidereal solstices are named Makara Sankranti which marks the start of Uttarayana, and Karka Sankranti which marks the start of Dakshinayana. The former occurs around January 14 each year, while the latter occurs around July 14 each year.
Holidays during the winter solstice
Below is the list of holidays marked worldwide, on the winter solstice day
- Alban Arthan (Welsh)
- Blue Christmas (holiday) (Western Christian)
- Brumalia (Ancient Rome)
- Dongzhi Festival (East Asia)
- Korochun (Slavic)
- Sanghamitta Day (Theravada Buddhism)
- Shalako (Zuni)
- Yaldā (Iran)
- Yule in the Northern Hemisphere (Neopagan)
- Ziemassvētki (ancient Latvia)
- Midwinter Day (Antarctica)
