The winter solstice marks the exact moment when half of Earth is tilted the farthest away from the sun. It usually happens on December 21 or 22, at the exact same second around the world.

The summer solstice, also known as estival solstice or midsummer, occurs when one of the Earth’s poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern and Southern). On the summer solstice, Earth’s maximum axial tilt toward the Sun is 23.44°.

Today, we know that the solstice is an astronomical event, caused by Earth’s tilt on its axis and its motion in orbit around the sun. The tilt of the Earth – not our distance from the sun – is what causes winter and summer.

Great Ways to Celebrate Yule With Kids….Start a Storytelling Tradition

1. Have a round-robin story-telling session. One person makes up the beginning of the story, another continues, and so on.
2. Read a book aloud to the family.
3. Learn some traditional folk tales, and share them with your family.

For that hemisphere, the winter solstice is the day with the shortest period of daylight and longest night of the year, when the Sun is at its lowest daily maximum elevation in the sky. At the pole, there is continuous darkness or twilight around the winter solstice.

The word solstice comes from Latin Sol (sun) and sistere (to not move), winter solstice meaning Sun standstill in winter. The earth prone and moves in an elliptic way around the sun. Because of this, the point from where the sun is shining moves between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer.

Winter solstice is the shortest day of the year in terms of daylight, but it does not have the latest sunrise nor the earliest sunset of the year. This is because of a discrepancy between our modern-day timekeeping methods and how time is measured using the Sun known as the equation of time.

When the winter solstice happens in the Northern Hemisphere, the North Pole is tilted about 23.4° (23°27′) away from the Sun. Because the Sun’s rays are shifted southward from the Equator by the same amount, the vertical noon rays are directly overhead at the Tropic of Capricorn (23°27′ S).

27 Winter Solstice Recipes

• Beef Pot Pie with Guinness1/27. Essentially Irish stew with some lovely store-bought puff pastry plopped on top.
• Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic2/27.
• Roasted Bone Marrow3/27.
• Macaroni Au Gratin4/27.
• Riz au Lait ~ French Rice Pudding5/27.
• Scalloped Potatoes6/27.
• Slow Roast Lamb7/27.
• Pecan Pie Bread Pudding8/27.

A Winter Celebration Of The Sun. Throughout history, societies across the world have held festivals and ceremonies marking winter solstice, the day of the “sun’s rebirth.” Most often, winter solstice celebrations honored the symbolism of fire and light, along with life, death, the rising sun, and the moon.

The energy of winter is that of going within. It’s the fruitful darkness and silence out of which our soul’s yearnings and new inspirations can eventually emerge.

Here are some customary ways to celebrate the solstice—you might notice that some resemble beloved Christmas traditions.

1. Build a Yule Altar.
2. Make an Evergreen Yule Wreath.
3. Burn a Yule Log.
4. Decorate a Yule Tree.
5. Exchange Nature-Based Gifts.
6. Give Back to Nature.
7. Celebrate in Candlelight.
8. Set up a Meditation Space.

The ancient festival was a 12 daylong celebration beginning on the eve of the Winter Solstice (known to most Pagans as Yule) and ending at the new calendar year. This celebration was so important in ancient times that it was converted by the Christians to the 12 Days of Christmas.

As to the question, Happy Yule, Happy Solstice, have a blessed holiday. Typically the greeter’s intent is to spread joy and blessings – not to force their faith on you. Typically. But then you get the fundies who practically spit the words “Merry CHRIST-mas!” at you, like they’re trying to insult you.

Glaðligr was an Old Norse word meaning, “happy, cheerful, bright;” it is a cognate to our modern English word glad. In Old English, then, the typical Yuletide greeting may have simply been Glæd Geol–literally, “Glad Yule.”

The Yule log is one tradition that is specifically pagan without as much Christian hold,” Glantzberg said. “It is where we light a full log in a bonfire or fireplace to keep the light going while the sun is gone.” Most pagans celebrate Yule — the winter solstice Dec. 21, which is also the longest night of the year.

The Yule log, Yule clog, or Christmas block is a specially selected log burnt on a hearth as a Christmas tradition in regions of Europe, particularly the United Kingdom, and subsequently the Americas. The Christmas practice calls for burning a portion of the log each evening until Twelfth Night (January 6).

Yule Log Decor and Dessert Today, a Yule log is still a Christmas tradition in some cultures; a large log is traditionally burned in the fireplace on Christmas Eve. For others cultures, the Yule log is defined as a log-shape chocolate cake enjoyed as a Christmas dessert.

3 days

Norway is the birthplace of the Yule log. The ancient Norse used the Yule log in their celebration of the return of the sun at winter solstice. “Yule” came from the Norse word hweol, meaning wheel. The Norse believed that the sun was a great wheel of fire that rolled towards and then away from the earth.