What is the Winter Solstice? Today Dec 21st.

The word solstice means “sun stands still” in Latin. A solstice is the exact moment when the earth’s poles are most tilted towards or away from the sun. This phenomenon occurs twice a year: When the earth tilts toward the sun in the summer and when it tilts away from the sun in the winter.

This makes the winter solstice the shortest day of the year because it has the least amount of daylight hours, giving the winter solstice the nickname “the darkest day of the year.” The winter solstice typically lands on December 21 or 22 in the northern hemisphere, but in the southern hemisphere, the winter solstice happens on June 20 or 21.

People from around the world have different customs and celebrations to mark the winter solstice. Some cultures will cook festive foods, light lanterns, decorate a tree, or burn a Yule log to mark the occasion.

Though some solstice traditions are wrapped up in ancient and modern religious significance, not all of them are. Your nod to the shortest day may be just a feeling of excitement for longer, sunnier days around the corner!

The Germanic, Scandinavian, Norse, and Celtic peoples celebrated Yule on the winter solstice. Anciently, Yule was a celebration that, in some cases, lasted for 2 months! Norse people would celebrate Yule with evergreens, holly, wreaths, a Yule log, and bells. There were also rituals such as animal sacrifice to the gods for a good harvest.

In ancient customs, burning the Yule log was believed to signal the return of the sun and usher in the beginning of spring. When adopted as a Christian custom, a Yule log became symbolic of the infant Christ Child at Christmas. People would leave the Yule log burning for the 12 days of Christmas. A small portion of the log is saved to light next year’s fire, and the ashes are scattered over a garden when it is time to plant seeds. In modern times, people will still select a Yule log to burn on the winter solstice or on Christmas. In France and Belgium, people even bake a traditional cake, “Bûche de Noël,” that looks like a Yule log.