Winter Solstice 2020: The shortest day is long in ancient traditions

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(CNN) – For six months, the days have shrunk and the nights have lengthened in the northern hemisphere. But that is about to be reversed.

The 2020 winter solstice, the shortest day of the year and the official start of winter, is Monday, December 21st. Its operation has fascinated people for thousands of years.

We will first look at the science and the precise time behind the solstice. We will then discover some ancient traditions and celebrations around the world (although many of the 2020 celebrations are being canceled or modified due to the pandemic). And finally, we get to know a delicious show in the special sky for the 2020 winter solstice.

The science and time behind a winter solstice

The winter solstice marks the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, when the sun appears in its southernmost position, directly at the head of the distant tropic of Capricorn.

The situation is reversed in the southern hemisphere. There, the December solstice marks the longest day of the year and the beginning of summer in places like Argentina, Australia and South Africa.

These three images from NOAA’s GOES East (GOES-16) satellite show us what Earth is like from space near the winter solstice. The images were captured about 24 hours before the 2018 winter solstice.

These three images from NOAA’s GOES East (GOES-16) satellite show us what Earth is like from space near the winter solstice. The images were captured about 24 hours before the 2018 winter solstice.

NOAA

When exactly does it occur?

The solstice usually takes place, but not always, on December 21st. The time at which the solstice occurs and the day itself changes because the solar year (the time it takes the sun to reappear in the same place seen from Earth) does not exactly coincide with our natural year.

– Tokyo: 19:02 Monday
– Bangkok: Monday at 5:02 p.m.
– Dubai: Monday at 2:02 p.m.
– Rome: 11:02 Monday
– Casablanca, Morocco: Monday at 10:02 (same as UTC)
– Boston: 5:02 a.m. Monday
– Vancouver: 2:02 am Monday
– Honolulu: 12:02 p.m.

What places see and feel the effects of the winter solstice the most?

Daylight decreases dramatically as you get closer to the North Pole on December 21st.

People in cozy Singapore, just 137 kilometers or 85 miles north of the equator, barely notice the difference, with only nine minutes less daylight than during the summer solstice.
Much higher in latitude, Madrid, Spain, still records a respectable new hour and 17 minutes of light during the winter solstice.
The Book House (Singer House) on Nevsky Avenue in St. Petersburg, Russia, is electrically lit. The sun is scarce here in the days before the winter solstice.

The Book House (Singer House) on Nevsky Avenue in St. Petersburg, Russia, is electrically lit. The sun is scarce here in the days before the winter solstice.

Alexander Demianchuk / TASS / Getty Images

The difference is clearest in the cold city of St. Petersburg, Russia, where the sun will rise at 10 a.m. and set at 3:53 p.m., resulting in less than six hours of anemic light.
Residents of Nome, Alaska will be further deprived of sunlight with just three hours, 54 minutes and 33 seconds of very dim natural light. But this is downright generous compared to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. It is located within the Arctic Circle and will not see a single ray of natural light.

What makes even the winter solstice happen?

Because the Earth is tilted about its axis of rotation, we experience stations here on Earth. As the Earth moves around the sun, each hemisphere experiences winter when it tilts from the sun and summer when it tilts toward the sun.

Just wait. Why does the Earth lean?

Scientists are not entirely sure how this happened, but they think that billions of years ago, as the solar system took shape, the Earth was subjected to violent collisions that caused the tilt of the Earth. axis.

What other seasonal transitions do we mark?

The equinoxes, in both spring and autumn, occur when the sun’s rays are directly on the equator. In these two days, everyone has an equal length of day and night. The summer solstice is when the sun’s rays lie farther north over the Tropic of Cancer, giving us the longest day and the official start of summer in the northern hemisphere.

Traditions and celebrations of the winter solstice

Decorated evergreen trees have roots that go back from the beginnings of Christianity to ancient Egypt and Rome.

Decorated evergreen trees have roots that go back from the beginnings of Christianity to ancient Egypt and Rome.

Shutterstock

It is not surprising that many cultures and religions celebrate holidays, whether Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or pagan holidays, which coincide with the return of longer days.

The ancient peoples whose survival depended on an accurate knowledge of the seasonal cycles marked this first day of winter with elaborate ceremonies and celebrations. Spiritually, these celebrations symbolize the opportunity for renewal, a shedding of bad habits and negative feelings, and a hug of hope in the midst of darkness as the days begin to get longer.

Many of the ancient symbols and winter solstice ceremonies live today or have been incorporated into newer traditions. Here are some of them:

Alban arthan

In Welsh, “Alban Arthan” means “Winter Light”, according to the farmers’ almanac. It may be the oldest seasonal festival in humanity. Part of the Druidic traditions, the winter solstice is considered a time of death and rebirth.

Saturnalia

In ancient Rome, Saturnalia began on December 17 and lasted seven days. He honored Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture. People enjoyed carnival festivities that resembled modern Mardi Gras celebrations and even delayed the takeover. Saturnalia continued until the 3rd and 4th centuries AD.

As the Roman Empire came under Christian influence and eventual domination, some of the festival’s customs merged into celebrations around Christmas and the New Year.

Dongzhi

Not only the ancient Europeans marked the annual occasion. The Dongzhi Winter Solstice Festival has its roots in ancient Chinese culture. The name roughly translates as “end of winter.”

They thought this was the apex of yin (from the theory of Chinese medicine). The Yin represents darkness and cold and stillness, hence the longest day of winter. Dongzhi marks the return of the yang and the slow rise of light and heat. Albutons are usually eaten to celebrate it in some East Asian cultures.

Cancellations and modified celebrations

Many places around the world hold festivals that honor the winter solstice. But due to the Covid-19 pandemic, they have been canceled for 2020 or altered to allow for a social and safe occasion.

Montol Festival

Better known to pirates than the solstice, the town of Penzance, on the south-west coast of England, relived a delightful series of events from the Cornish solstice that reached the winter solstice. They have canceled events for 2020, but hope to resume it in 2021, according to the festival’s Facebook page.
A choir sings at Stonehenge to mark the winter solstice. However, face-to-face visits are canceled for 2020.

A choir sings at Stonehenge to mark the winter solstice. However, face-to-face visits are canceled for 2020.

Ben Birchall / PA Images / Getty Images

Stonehenge

Stonehenge is the UK’s most famous site for solstice celebrations. On the winter solstice, visitors have traditionally had the opportunity to enter the mysterious and mysterious stone circle for a sunrise ceremony by local pagan groups and druids.

Due to the pandemic, face-to-face celebrations have been canceled this year. But the English Heritage Society created it so you can play the sunrise live from Stonehenge.

Lantern Festival

In Canada, the Vancouver Winter Solstice Lantern Festival is a brilliant celebration of solstice traditions around the world. Traditionally, the Secret Lantern Society brings together a wide range of music, dance, food and spectacular lantern-lit processions.

By 2020, they are bringing the festival to Zoom, encouraging people to share their streetlights and other online efforts.

The Christmas star

Saturn, above, and Jupiter, below, are seen after sunset on December 13 from Shenandoah National Park in Luray, Virginia.

Saturn, above, and Jupiter, below, are seen after sunset on December 13 from Shenandoah National Park in Luray, Virginia.

NASA / Bill Ingalls

Although the pandemic rains in our parades on Earth, its reach cannot extend to the solar system.

On the night of December 21, Jupiter and Saturn will appear so aligned in our sky that they will look like a double planet. This close approach is called conjunction.

As it is happening just in time for Christmas, many give it the nickname “Christmas Star”.

“You should return by the morning of March 4, 1226 to see a closer alignment between these objects visible in the night sky,” wrote astronomer Patrick Hartigan, a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University. in Houston, in a statement.

The solstice and the “Christmas Star” will give a world tired of coronavirus two powerful symbols of hope and reminders of a universe that is always advancing at its own pace that no virus can stop.

CNN’s Katia Hetter, CNN’s Ashley Strickland, and Autumn Spanne contributed to this article.

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