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The winter solstice occurs during the hemisphere's winter. In the Northern Hemisphere, this is the December solstice (December 21 or 22) and in the Southern Hemisphere, this is the June solstice (June 20 or 21). Although the winter solstice itself lasts only a moment, the term also refers to the day on which it occurs.
The lengths of time when the sun is up are longer around the summer solstice and shorter around the winter solstice, except near the equator. When the Sun's path crosses the equator, the length of the nights at latitudes +L° and −L° are of equal length. This is known as an equinox. There are two solstices and two equinoxes in a tropical year.
The December-solstice solar year is the solar year based on the December solstice. It is thus the length of time between adjacent December solstices. The length of the December-solstice year has been relatively stable between 6000 BC and AD 2000, in the range of 49 minutes 30 seconds to 50 minutes in excess of 365 days 5 hours.
Winter solstice is an astronomical phenomenon which marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year. The winter solstice may be referred to as: December solstice in the Northern Hemisphere; June solstice in the Southern Hemisphere; Winter solstice may also refer to: Winter Solstice, 2004 American film with Anthony LaPaglia
In Celtic nations such as Ireland (using the Irish calendar) and in Scandinavia, the winter solstice is traditionally considered as midwinter, with the winter season beginning 1 November, on All Hallows, or Samhain. [citation needed] Winter ends and spring begins on Imbolc, or Candlemas, which is 1 or 2 February. [22]
For that hemisphere, the winter solstice is the day with the shortest period of daylight and longest night of the year, when the Sun is at its lowest daily maximum elevation in the sky. Either pole experiences continuous darkness or twilight around its winter solstice. The opposite event is the summer solstice.
In Korea, the winter solstice is also called the "Small Seol," and there is a custom of celebrating the day. People make porridge with red beans known as patjuk (팥죽) and round rice cakes (새알심 saealsim) with sticky rice. In the past, red bean porridge soup was sprayed on walls or doors because it was said to ward off bad ghosts.
The Brumalia (Latin: Brumalia [bruːˈmaːlia]) were a winter solstice festival celebrated in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. [1] [2] In Rome there had been the minor holiday of Bruma on November 24, which turned into large scale end of the year festivities in Constantinople and Christianity. The festival included night-time feasting ...