Google Doodle celebrates Winter 2021 with an animated image. It features a hedgehog walking on the snow. Today’s animated image is similar to the one it tweeted on June 21 with the caption: “As the Earth tilts on its axis, many in the Southern Hemisphere are preparing to chill out for the next few months…Happy first winter day! #GoogleDoodle.”
December 21 marks the winter solstice. Also known as December solstice, hiemal solstice, or winter solstice, the event occurs when one of the Earth’s poles is tilted at its maximum distance from the sun. Apparently this causes the day to have the shortest daylight period due to the absence of the sun, with the longest night of the year.
This day is celebrated once a year on December 21 or 22, usually in countries that witness the winter season such as UK, US, India, Russia, China, and Canada.
The precise moment of the winter solstice — when Earth’s north pole points straight away from the sun and the sun is directly overhead the Tropic of Capricorn, at about 23.4 degrees south latitude — occurs at 9:28 PM IST. The winter solstice sunrise will be at 7:10 am and sunset at 5:29 pm, according to drikpanchang.
The winter solstice is also popularly said to mark the “birth of the sun” because for the hemisphere away from the star, the days after today will begin to lengthen, while the nights will become shorter. For the December solstice, the Northern Hemisphere is away from the Sun, while it marks the beginning of Astronomical Summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
The word ‘solstitium’ is derived from the Latin scientific term ‘solstitium’. While ‘sol’ stands for sun, the past participle of ‘sistere’ means ‘to rise’. Therefore, the loose translation of solstice means ‘still sun’. From time immemorial, there have been various traditions and rituals associated with the day. In Iran, people celebrate the festival of Yalda, as it marked the birth of Mithra, the ancient sun god, in pre-Islamic times.
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