Top 10 Weirdest Facts About the Winter Solstice

Stonehenge aligns with the Winter Solstice sunrise. Some have produced theories about how the position of the sun was religiously important to the Druids, the group of people who built Stonehenge, while others suggest that Stonehenge is constructed around more natural places that happen to align with it.

While the original purpose of Stonehenge is still debatable, its relevance on the Winter Solstice these days is why thousands of Neopagans gather there every year to celebrate the solstice.

While most view the Winter Solstice as a day-long event (in 2021 it's on December 21), it's actually a quite precise time of day. The Winter Solstice occurs the moment the North Pole is facing farthest away from the sun on Earth's axis. This is also the time when the sun shines directly over the Tropic of Capricorn.

Last year, the Winter Solstice happened at 4:02 a.m., Central time, on December 22. This year, the solstice will occur at 5:02 a.m. Central time, on December 21. The solstice also happens at the same moment for everyone, regardless of time zones.

Early societies (pagans, but pick which branch, as it probably doesn't matter) would be astounded by the number of people who are depressed, starving, and so on, during this time of year. They held solstice celebrations and rituals meant to welcome the return of the sun and hope for new life.

Scandinavian and Germanic pagans, most likely Norse, lit fires and burned logs as a ritualistic, symbolic way of welcoming back light and the sun. Cows, pigs, and goats were sacrificed around the middle of winter, followed by feasting on fresh meat for several months. The modern Druidic celebration Alban Arthan celebrates the death of the Old Sun and birth of the New Sun.

If you were to ask the Neopagans at Stonehenge how this came to be, they'd probably check their horoscopes or thank the gods. Ask me, and I can tell you important events happened on April first, too.

Anyway, some examples are the Pilgrims ended their journey from Great Britain to what is now known as the United States on December 21, 1620. They discovered what would eventually become arguably the most important nation on Earth on December 21, 1620.

On December 21, 1898, Pierre and Marie Curie discovered the element radium, heralding the atomic era. On December 21, 1968, the Apollo 8 spacecraft was launched, marking the first crewed moon mission. These all happened on the Winter Solstice.

This is obvious and common knowledge, but let me elaborate. On the Winter Solstice, the Big Apple will see a little bit more than nine hours of sunlight. Helsinki, Finland, will get a little less than six hours of light, and the North Pole hasn't received any sunlight since October.

The South Pole, on the other hand, will be glowing with sunlight that will not set until March.

Yalda, an Islamic holiday from Iran, is on the longest night of the year. Before Islam became such a common religion, Yalda was the harbinger of the birth of Mithra, the ancient sun god, and his defeat of darkness.

Zoroastrian folklore suggests that evil spirits walk the Earth and the forces of the evil spirit "Ahriman" are most powerful on the Winter Solstice. People are advised to stay up most of the night, keeping each other company, eating, talking, sharing poetry and stories, and doing regular daytime activities to avoid encountering these evil spirits.

Not surprising, to be honest. Jesus Christ's birthday is not disclosed in the Bible, so it remains unknown to us. On the flip side, the Winter Solstice has been celebrated since German and Nordic pagans had their Yuletide celebrations, long before Jesus Christ was born.

Constantine wanted to attract pagans to Christianity, so Christian ideologies were added to festivals like that of the Winter Solstice. Christmas customs, such as "yuletide carols" or even the Christmas tree, came from Pagan rituals on the Winter Solstice.

The word "solstice" is derived from the Latin word "solstitium," meaning "point at which the sun stands still." The sun actually never moved, though. Prior to when the Renaissance astronomer Nicolas Copernicus came up with the heliocentric model, people assumed the sun (and everything else) revolved around the Earth, and not the other way around.

Our use of the word "solstice" can be a reminder of just how far science has come since we started celebrating the Winter Solstice. Solid reason to thank Copernicus.

December 21, 2012, matches the date 13.0.0.0.0 in the Mayan calendar, and that date is supposed to be the end of a 5126-year cycle. Some people thought this coincidence would be the harbinger of the end of the world, and if not that, something very bad.

Other people believed it was supposed to be the birth of a new era for Earth and the human race. As we can see clearly, almost a decade later, neither of these theories were accurate, which is why I was able to make this list. That solstice was nothing unique, much less apocalyptic.