Two days of the earth year are special. Their difference from the others is in the height of the sun above the horizon at noon.
These days (one in winter, another in summer) are called solstices. What is this period? What changes in the astronomical year is it associated with? Why in ancient times did people attach so much importance to it?
Winter and summer solstices
Winter coincides with such an astronomy event: the position of the star in relation to the celestial equator (in the movement observed over the course of the year over a large circle of the celestial sphere) is the lowest. And in the summer solstice, respectively, is the highest.
There are international standards for Coordinated Universal Time, introduced on January 1, 1925, which is a timeline that is based on the rotation of our planet. According to them, the solstice for residents of the northern hemisphere occurs on 21-22 days of the first month of winter and 20-21 days of the first month of summer. The population of the southern hemisphere has a winter solstice in June and a summer solstice in December.
The day when the winter solstice occurs is the shortest daylight hours of the whole year. Naturally, the night on this day is record long. The summer solstice presents the same picture exactly the opposite. Moreover, if you do not take into account the poles of the planet. After all, there is a semi-annual polar night, the middle of which is the winter solstice, and a polar day of the same length with the center in the summer solstice.
When will daylight begin to increase and night decrease? And when the opposite?
In winter and spring, the height increases to which the sun rises in the very middle of the day between ascent and sunset. The climax is reached just in the summer solstice. The luminary, as it were, “stops” its rise, is in statics. All arriving up to this point the day reaches its maximum length. Further, the vector of its movement becomes the opposite. The sun begins to sink lower and lower until it "freezes" at a minimum height above the horizon. This will be the winter solstice.
The night, which until this moment has been steadily increasing, reaches its greatest duration. And the very next day the path of the sun will go back up again. Once again, the time will come when daylight hours will begin to increase and the dark time of day will decrease.
Astronomical winter and summer
Due to the fact that some years are leap years, the dates of the solstices are shifted by one or two days.
According to tradition, the astronomical winter begins on the day of the winter solstice. It will last until March 21 or the vernal equinox. It is not difficult to guess that the astronomical summer starts from the moment of the summer solstice and ends with the autumn equinox. This, again, is true for the northern hemisphere, and in the southern - the seasons are reversed.
Zodiac on top of the "bell"
It remains to add that if the graph of the height of the rise of the sun for 365 days of the year resembles a bell-shaped sinusoid, then a small number of days at the time and around the solstice on this graph will be its peak. When daylight starts to add (or when it just starts to decrease), the solar disk will practically not deviate from the maximum (or minimum) height above the horizon. Therefore, the solstice.
Since the times of the ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus of Nicaea, the solstices have been designated by the zodiac symbols of their respective constellations. In the past - Capricorn (winter) and Cancer (summer), today - Sagittarius and Taurus.
Solstice in ancient traditions
From ancient times, representatives of various cultures considered the winter solstice an extremely important day. It was celebrated as a celebration of the beginning of the next year and the emerging Sun.
Farmers and pastoralists, our distant ancestors, were dependent on the mercies of nature. And the time when daylight increases, promised the increase in the number of these graces, too.
In the calendars of different peoples, the revival of the sun in winter was noted as an important event in the natural cycle, according to which the ancients learned to live without violating harmony with nature. The solstice is a time of rites and the most important rituals, a celebration of the unity of the world of people and the world of spirits.
According to ancient beliefs, the winter solstice gives a chance of fulfilling wishes up to a radical change in one's own destiny with the protection of higher powers.
Here are just some traditions of celebrating this day in the past:
- Germanic peoples called this holiday Yule. It symbolized for the peoples of pagan Europe the beginning of the next cycle of life of a renewed nature. It was believed that at the solstice the gods descend into the human world, and communication with the troll or elf is a common event of the day.
- The Celts hung branches of spruce above the entrance, between the rooms, at the hearth. It was obligatory to light a fire, which was “fed” with oak logs so that the renewed light flared up brighter. The central part of the house must have been decorated with some round symbol of the star.
- Persia. On the day of the winter solstice (also called the solstice day), Mitra was born (the sun god is the winner of winter). During this period, the liberation of the paths for the coming spring was celebrated.
- From ancient China, such knowledge came: from the winter solstice the natural masculine power begins to grow stronger. There, this day of the beginning of a new cycle was considered a moment that brings good luck and happiness and worthy of magnificent celebration.
polar night
Polar night is the time of day when the sun does not show over the horizon for 24 hours. In some settlements of Russia located in the northern latitude above 67º 24´, the polar night is not an exotic, but an ordinary calendar event. Among them are Apatity, Vorkuta, Dudinka, Zapolyarny, Naryan-Mar and others.
Even at the latitude of the Arctic Circle (66º34´ N), where the center of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District is located - the city of Salahard (the only one in the world in the Arctic Circle) - a polar night phenomenon is observed.
When will daylight increase? Even modern people, in spite of any high technology, like the distant ancestors gathered around the ritual bonfire, look with hope at the black or gray sky, looking for the answer to this question. And they are not difficult to understand, being during the winter solstice somewhere in high latitudes.
Health effects of daylight saving
The health of the population of the northern territories is exposed to the negative effects of phenomena such as the polar night. Adverse changes in daylight in the direction of its reduction and increase in the dark time of the day cause the following consequences:
- Fatigue.
- Decreased vision.
- Depressive conditions.
- Emotional overstatement or lethargy.
- Decreased immunity.
- Exacerbation of chronic diseases.
Therefore, doctors recommend not waiting for the addition of daylight, cherishing the gloomy mood, but to lead an active lifestyle, but in a sparing mode. It is important not to forget about healthy eating.
Still, every year comes the long-awaited time when daylight hours increase. Soon the sun will travel across the sky around the clock, giving people another extraordinary miracle - a polar day. And in anticipation of the time when daylight begins to increase, people will decorate the streets of the polar cities with bright illumination, which makes the next harsh winter less gloomy.