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Winter Solstice

Winter Solstice

The Winter Solstice occurs on the shortest day of the year, which usually December 20th or 21st. This marks the beginning of winter.

About Winter Solstice

The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year and the longest night in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, it is the Summer Solstice. The Winter Solstice takes place on December 20th or 21st of each year. It is the first day of Winter. Even though the Winter Solstice takes place in a split second of time it is celebrated by many cultures through many types of celebrations and feasts.

Celebrations range from the Amaterasu celebration, or Requiem of the Dead from 7th century Japan to Ziemassvetki, an ancient Latvian winter festival. The most common or best known Winter festival is Christmas. It is celebrated by the Christian faith even though some of its practices and traditions are of pagan origins. It celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. The winter Solstice is often associated with birth and rebirth because the days, from this point on, get progressively longer, giving hope for a wonderful Spring full of life.

Newgrange is a famous ancient structure, over 5,000 years old, in Ireland. It is a passage tomb. On the Winter Soltice, at sunrise, the sun illuminates the interior of the tomb. The rest of the year the interior is in complete darkness. The following video shows Newgrange and the Winter Solstice of 2007.

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In a picture taken on November 8, 2011, traditional jars are piled up as workers prepare for the annual wine-making process ahead of the lunar calendar winter solstice, at a Shaoxing winery, in Shaoxing, east China's Zhejiang province. Shaoxing wine is one of the most famous varieties of Huangjiu, or traditional Chinese fermented rice wine, and been in production since the imperial days, and large quantities are stored in the classic Shaoxing wine containers over long periods of time. Shaoxing wines are now exported and sold as vintage wines in may countries.

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Winter Solstice