Winter Solstice

• The Winter Solstice is the day the Sun ceases to descend in the sky and starts to rise again, which is the shortest day of the year.
• This occurs on the 21st or 22nd of December in the Northern Hemisphere and on the 20th or 21st of June in the Southern Hemisphere.

Summer Solstice

• The Summer Solstice is the day the Sun ceases to rise in the Sky and starts to descend, which is the longest day of the year.
• It falls between the 20th to the 22nd of June in the Northern Hemisphere and between 20th to the 23rd of December in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Sun’s Birthday

• The Bronze Age celebrated the birth of the Sun.
• Most of the Megalithic Stone structures are oriented towards the Winter Solstice, permitting the Sun to enter a Chamber only on this date.
• In the Classical World, the Winter Solstice was considered to be the Sun’s Birthday.
• Elagabalus, the Roman Emperor (218-222 CE) created a national holiday for Sol Invictus, to celebrate the Sun’s birthday, a few days after the 21st of December.

Solstices and Equinoxes

• There are four points where the Ecliptic (the path of the Sun in the sky) crosses the Equator. At the two Equinoxes, when there is equal day and equal night, and at the two Solstices:
  1. Vernal Equinox or Spring Equinox (equal day and night)
  2. Autumnal Equinox (equal day and night)
  3. Winter Solstice (longest night)
  4. Summer Solstice (longest day)