Axial tilt truly is the reason for the season!

The winter solstice happens twice – once in the northern hemisphere, on December 21, when the sun is the farthest south in the sky. On June 21 in the southern hemisphere, it occurs when the sun is the farthest north in the sky. As seen from Earth, the Sun travels the shortest path through the sky on the winter solstice. The winter solstice has the shortest day and the longest night of the year.

When we in the northern hemisphere have our winter solstice on December 21, the southern hemisphere has its summer solstice, and when the southern hemisphere has its winter solstice on June 21, it’s our summer solstice. The summer solstice has the longest day and the shortest night of the year.

As days get shorter and shorter, the sun doesn’t seem to rise as high in the sky. Each shorter day, the sun is just a bit lower. Then, on the solstice, the sun seems to stop moving in the sky.

Read more about the solstices in an article by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, at Science.com, and in the Smithsonian Institution’s blog.

Ancient people did not fully understand why the days grew steadily shorter and then longer. They did not know why the sun seemed to pause on the solstices and then reverse direction. Because they did not know the science or physics behind these natural phenomena, they imagined that supernatural beings or magical creatures made important things happen. The stories they made up became legends and myths, and some of these stories became part of their religions.

The Solstice Lady has lots of great information about the myths, legends, and traditions of the solstice all over the world, both current and past.