You might think that winter season is here, and it is.But not officially.
Today will mark the winter solstice, an announcement of the official start of winters in the Northern Hemisphere.
More precisely, winter solstice will take place at 12:47 pm EST (1747 GMT) on Dec. 21.
It is a date that will also mark the shortest day and longest night.
Understanding Winter Solstice
Winter solstice falls every year around Dec. 21. It is because of the earth's axial tilt, which is farthest away from the sun at its maximum of 23° 26'.
At this time of the year, the sun is closer to the horizon, thus giving out least amount of daylight therefore lengthening the day and shortening the night.
But there is a bright side to it. Starting Tuesday, the days will start getting longer, leading to summer solstice, which in 2010 will fall on June 21.
At that time, the day will be the longest with the daytime lasting for about 15 hours compared to 9 hours on Monday.
Though Earth as a whole will be closer to Sun during the winters in the Northern Hemisphere, the northern parts will be away from the sun due to the axial tilt of the planet.
Winter solstice is the shortest day, but it is not essentially the coldest day. The reason is that oceans are slow to heat and cool, so they retain some warmth from winters therefore delaying the coldest day by a month or a half.
Celebrations associated with Winter Solstice
Throughout history, solstices have been associated with countless cultural and religious traditions.
In pre-historic time, winters were a very difficult time for Aboriginal people in the northern latitudes as they had to survive on limited stored food and whatever animals they could hunt.
Their problems multiplied as sun sank lower in the sky each noon. They feared that sun would vanish one day, leaving them in complete darkness.
After the winter solstice, they had a reason to cheer as days started getting longer. Though months of cold weather remained, they knew spring season would follow soon. Since then winter solstice is associated with rebirth.
Germanic peoples of Northern Europe marked winter solstice with the celebration of Yule festivals, lasting for twelve days. During this time, in many places fires or candles were kindled to burn, thus marking the celebration.
Even Romans celebrated the lengthening of days with Roman feast of Saturnalia. During this, they honored Saturn, the God of seed and sowing.
It is no co-incidence that Christmas is celebrated on Dec. 25.
The early Catholic Church marked this day as the birth of Christ.
But no one really knows the exact date when Christ was born.
The reason the Church chose this date was because this was already the date recognized throughout the Roman Empire as the birthday of various Pagan gods.
This occurred around the time of the winter solstice.
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