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Druids and pagans head to Stonehenge for winter solstice rituals
Posted On Dec 22 2015
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Our planet orbits the sun, which is tilted at an average of 23.5 degrees, leaving the Northern and Southern Hemispheres to receive unequal amounts of sunlight, which causes both the solstices and the seasons.
The winter solstice is an astronomical event where the Earth tilts on its axis away from the sun at its furthest point.
The days that follow on from the winter solstice will gradually get longer, leading up to the summer solstice in June.
Monday night marks the 2015 winter solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year. The latest sunrise doesn’t happen until a few days after the solstice, on December 26 at 10:15 AM. “Around the time of the December solstice, it’s your longest noontime shadow of the year”.
Christmas is very much associated with the Winter Solstice which marks as the turning point in the year in many culture.
Here are 5 things you may not have known about the Winter Solstice.
Don’t worry if you miss this one though, you don’t have long to wait – the next solstice in our solar system is on the 3 of January when the northern summer solstice on Mars occurs. The sun will be directly overhead of the Tropic of Capricorn and is closer to the horizon than any other year.
The sun’s track across the sky is much shorter and lower in the winter than in the summer.
The term “solstice” derives from the Latin word “solstitium”, meaning “Sun standing still”.
A spokesman for English Heritage, which looks after the prehistoric monument, said they expect about 5000 people at the site in Wiltshire, about 150km west of London.
Unfortunately, an event in Chicago celebrating the solstice has been cancelled because of the weather.
Most celebrations of the winter solstice in Europe involved merriment and feasting. Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25, just days after the solstice, and many believe the date of December 25 was chosen to overshadow the pagan celebrations of Saturnalia and Natalis Invicti, according to timeanddate.com.
