All about the Winter Solstice

The time has finally come! That’s right, the December Solstice (or Winter Solstice) is finally here. Maybe that means we’ll actually start having winter weather, and not Louisiana winter, I mean real winter where you actually need a coat to go outside? Mittens? A hat? A girl can dream anyway.

Regardless of what the temperatures do (is it such an extraordinary request to want to be able to enjoy a fire this holiday season?) – the Winter Solstice falls on December 21, and, as many of you are likely aware, it is the shortest day, the longest night, of the year. It marks the official start of winter and in many cultures is seen as the symbolic death and rebirth of the sun.

While today we know that a solstice is the result of the tilt or angle at which the earth orbits around the sun, ancient cultures did not and so it is theorized that many of the structures that are left behind today were built, at least in some part, as a way of studying and understanding these patterns. For example, Macchu Picchu and Stonehenge may have been used to chart the shifting of the sun, and the changing of the amount of daylight there was depending on the season.

Annie Gilmer

In addition to these structures, cultures around the world celebrated the winter solstice in a variety of ways. In Iran there’s Shab-e Yalda, or Yalda Night, during which fires are lit that burn all night and families gather with feasts and special poetry readings. While in Japan they celebrate Toji; it is customary during the solstice to bathe in a yuzu (yes, the citrus fruit) bath due to the fruit’s cleansing and healing properties, and its association with good luck and warding off of evil spirits. Yule is another festival that begins on the winter solstice. It has its origins in Germanic cultures, but we still see some of its influences in Christmas celebrations such as the burning of the yule log. Yule log can also refer to a dessert that often consists of a thin chocolate cake rolled into a log shape and filled with whipped cream. For some recipe ideas for that one, check out the A-to-Z World Foods database under the resources tab on our website.

However you choose to enjoy this short day, with dessert, curling up in front of a cozy fire, making a yule lantern to place in a window, or perhaps a tradition of your own making, we wish you happy holidays and good times with friends and family.

Questions? Email us at: contactus@bossierlibrary.org

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: All about the Winter Solstice