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December / Winter Solstice |
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Today in the Northern Hemisphere, the December (or winter) solstice, which is the "shortest" day of sunlight hours that occur each year and therefore, the longest nighttime hours annually. will typically fall around the 21st or 22nd of December and this is when the sun will appear at its most southerly position directly overhead at the Tropic of Capricorn (23 degrees, 27 minutes south latitude). This marks the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere (but is the exact opposite in the Southern Hemisphere).
A solstice is different from an equinox, the two times each year when the sun is directly above the Earth's equator and day and night are of equal length. Equinoxes mark the beginning of spring (March) and fall (September) while solstices mark the beginning of summer (June) and winter (December). The reason for the different seasons at opposite times of the year in the two hemispheres is that while the earth rotates constantly around the sun, it is also spinning on its axis, which is tilted some 23.5 degrees towards the plane of its rotation.
The December / Winter Solstice (Solsticio de Diciembre / Invierno) has been an auspicious day since ancient times with many cultural and religious holidays, festivals and celebrations surrounding the first day of winter. Solstice comes from the Latin phrase for "sun stands still". Basically, after months of the daylight growing shorter and lower in the sky since the summer solstice in June, on the few days before and after the winter solstice, the sun, at noon, appears to be in the same spot when it both rises and sets. After the winter solstice, the arc of the sun begins to grow longer and higher in the sky. The northern winter solstice occurs when the "top" half of Earth is tilted away from the sun at its most extreme angle of the year, thereby bringing cooler and colder weather during winter.
Throughout history, humans have celebrated the winter solstice, often with an appreciative eye toward the return of summer sunlight. The Mayan civilization, which reached its height from A.D. 300 to 900, had a talent for astronomy. Its Long Count calendar begins in 3114 B.C., marking time in roughly 394-year periods known as Baktuns. Thirteen was a significant, sacred number for the Mayas, and the 13th Baktun ended on December 21st, 2012. While many individuals and cultures read into this to mean the end of the Earth or "doomsday", experts say the date, while considered significant for the Mayans, it did not imply an apocalypse, but a beginning of another calendar cycle.
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