The Winter Solstice Worksheet Download

Wow, one day each year is the shortest of all! It is the winter solstice, and in the Northern Hemisphere it comes around December 21. The sun rises late, sets early, and gives you the longest night of the year.

So why does that night stretch so long? Earth is tilted, which means it leans to one side as it circles the sun. In December, the top half of Earth leans away from the sun, so we get fewer hours of daylight.

Those short days mattered to people long ago, and in Ireland some built a stone mound called Newgrange. It is over 5,000 years old, older than the pyramids of Egypt! On solstice morning, the rising sun shines through a small opening above the door and lights the floor inside.

Glowing light in the dark still matters, and in many places people hold festivals of light in midwinter. They gather around bonfires and candles to welcome the sun back. After the longest night, the days slowly grow longer again, just as they did for Newgrange's builders!

Imagine you are standing in a dark stone room inside a hill in Ireland, on a cold December morning. Then a thin beam of golden sunlight slips down a long passage and glows on the floor at your feet! You are watching the winter solstice sunrise at a place called Newgrange.

That golden beam arrives on the shortest day of the year, called the winter solstice. In the Northern Hemisphere, the half of Earth north of the equator, it comes around December 21. Earth is tilted like a spinning top, so in December the north leans away from the Sun. Because of this, the Sun stays low and the night is the longest of the year.

Those short, dark days are exactly why people built Newgrange about 5,000 years ago. That is older than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt! The builders shaped a small opening above the door, called a roof box, to catch the first light of the solstice sunrise. On that morning, the sunbeam lights up the room for about 17 minutes, and then it fades away.

Even after that beam fades, the joy of returning light lives on around the world. In northern Europe, people gathered for Yule feasts and fires. In China, many families eat sweet rice balls at the Dongzhi Festival. After the solstice, each day grows a little longer, and a hill in Ireland has been welcoming that returning light for about 5,000 years.

Picture Stockholm, Sweden, on December 21, when the sun peeks over the rooftops like a sleepy cat and slips away by about 3 o'clock. This is the winter solstice, a Latin word meaning 'sun stands still,' and it is the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. In Stockholm, the sun shines only about six hours, but in midsummer it stays up for about 18!

So why does the sun clock out so early in December? The answer is Earth's tilt: our planet leans about 23 degrees, like a spinning top. As Earth circles the sun, the Northern Hemisphere leans away in December, so sunlight arrives at a slant and days are short. Meanwhile, the Southern Hemisphere leans toward the sun, so people in Australia enjoy their longest day!

Long before anyone knew about Earth's tilt, people noticed the short days and created giant calendars out of stone. In Ireland, people built Newgrange about 5,000 years ago, which makes it older than the pyramids of Giza in Egypt. On mornings around the winter solstice, sunlight slips through an opening above the door and creeps down a long passage for about 17 minutes. Can you imagine planning that without clocks? They did it by watching the sun.

Those builders may have felt the joy we feel when light returns, and many places hold midwinter festivals of light. In Iran, families celebrate Yalda on the longest night with pomegranates, watermelon, and poems. In China, the Dongzhi Festival brings families together for warm meals of sweet rice balls or dumplings.

Warm meals and glowing lights still brighten the winter season, from Hanukkah menorahs to Christmas trees, and Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas. After the solstice, daylight grows a little longer each day until June. So when a candle flickers on a winter night, remember: the shortest day is when the light starts coming back, just as it did at Newgrange 5,000 years ago.

Here's a puzzle: why does the sun seem to sneak a little lower in the sky each day in autumn, and then suddenly pause? Around December 21, the Northern Hemisphere reaches the winter solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year. The word comes from two Latin words, sol, meaning "sun," and sistere, meaning "to stand still." Ancient sky watchers saw the sunrise spot creep along the horizon, pause for a few days, and then turn back.

The sun isn't really pausing, though; the secret is a tilt in Earth itself. Earth spins on an axis tilted about 23.5 degrees, like a spinning top that leans to one side as it circles the sun. In December, the Northern Hemisphere leans away from the sun, so sunlight arrives at a low slant and the days are short. Here's a wow: on the very same day, the Southern Hemisphere leans toward the sun, so people in Australia enjoy their longest day!

Nobody knew about Earth's tilt 5,200 years ago, yet builders in Ireland still found a way to catch the winter sun. Their creation, Newgrange, is a grassy mound with a stone passage inside, and it is older than Egypt's pyramids. Above its entrance, they left a narrow opening called a roof box. Around the winter solstice, the rising sun shines through it, and a beam of light creeps down the passage to glow inside the chamber for about 17 minutes.

A beam of light in the darkest season was worth celebrating, and people around the world found their own ways to do it. Ancient Romans held Saturnalia in December, a festival of feasts, candles and gift giving. In China, many families mark the Dongzhi festival by eating tangyuan, sweet rice dumplings. In Iran, families stay up late on Yalda Night, the longest night of the year, sharing pomegranates, nuts and poetry late into the night.

Poems and pomegranates aren't the only ways to chase off the winter dark, since glowing lights work wonders too. Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25, and many homes and churches glow with candles, stars and twinkling lights during the season. Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, celebrations all their own, also bring candlelight to the winter nights. Even today, the winter sun still slides its beam down Newgrange's passage, more than 5,000 years after the builders finished.

Think the shortest day of the year must also be the coldest? Most people do, but the winter solstice has a surprise waiting for you! Around December 21 in the Northern Hemisphere, the sun takes its lowest, shortest path across the sky, bringing the fewest daylight hours and the longest night of the year. In some places, the sun barely peeks over the horizon, like a sleepy traveler who gets out of bed just long enough to say hello. Yet the coldest weather usually arrives weeks later, because land and oceans are slow to lose the warmth they stored up all summer.

That slow cooling is only the first twist, because the second one is about what truly causes winter. Many people believe winter happens when Earth drifts farther from the sun, but Earth is actually closest to the sun in early January, about 3 million miles nearer than in July. The real cause is Earth's tilt, a lean of about 23.5 degrees that stays the same as our planet circles the sun. Around December 21, the Northern Hemisphere leans away, so sunlight arrives at a slant and spreads thin, like a flashlight beam angled across a table. Meanwhile, the Southern Hemisphere leans toward the sun, so December 21 is the longest day of the year in Australia!

Long before anyone measured that tilt, people noticed the sun's yearly pattern, and some built it right into stone. About 5,000 years ago, farmers in Ireland raised Newgrange, a grassy mound of earth and stone roughly 250 feet across. That makes it older than Stonehenge and the pyramids of Egypt. A small opening above the entrance, called a roof box, lets a golden sunrise beam slip in around December 21, creep down the passage, and light the chamber for about 17 minutes.

Waiting in the cold dark for that 17-minute beam must have been thrilling, and people around the world still love to welcome the light back. In ancient Rome, a December festival called Saturnalia was packed with feasts, candles, and gifts. In China and other parts of East Asia, families mark Dongzhi with warm foods, such as sweet rice dumplings called tangyuan. In Iran, families stay up late on Yalda, the longest night, to eat pomegranates and watermelon and to read poetry aloud.

Keeping the longest night company with fruit and poetry shows how much people treasure the light, and that feeling has not faded. In northern Norway, above the Arctic Circle, the sun may not rise for weeks around the solstice, so its return is cause for cheering. Just days later, on December 25, Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, and many homes and streets glow with lights, too. I think the solstice is nature's best good news, because afterward the days in the Northern Hemisphere start growing longer. And each winter, the golden beam at Newgrange still slides down its ancient passage, proof that the promise of returning light is older than the pyramids.

Earth leans about 23.5 degrees, roughly a quarter of a right angle, and that small tilt changes the seasons for the whole planet. Around December 21, the Northern Hemisphere tips as far from the sun as it gets, so the sun limps across a low, pale arc of sky and quits early. That day is the winter solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year north of the equator. The word comes from Latin words meaning "sun" and "stand still," because the sun's path across the sky seems to pause before turning back.

Standing still sounds peaceful, but the truth is surprising: winter is not caused by distance from the sun. In fact, Earth is closest to the sun in early January, only a couple of weeks after the solstice. What matters is the tilt, which changes how directly sunlight strikes the ground and how many hours it shines. In the far north the effect is dramatic: in Utqiaġvik, Alaska, the sun stays below the horizon for about two months. Meanwhile, south of the equator the same date is the year's longest day, so families in Australia may be at the beach.

Long before anyone could explain why one hemisphere's summer is another's winter, sky-watchers were tracking the sun, and some turned their observations into stone. Newgrange, a grass-topped mound in Ireland built about 5,000 years ago, is older than Egypt's Great Pyramid. Above the entrance is a narrow gap called a roof box, and at the winter solstice, sunrise light slips through and races down a stone passage about 60 feet long. For about 17 minutes, a beam of gold creeps across the floor of the inner chamber, lighting a room that is usually dark. Historians cannot be sure what the builders believed, but aligning so many heavy stones with one sunrise suggests midwinter mattered enormously.

That kind of effort makes sense, because shrinking daylight worried people everywhere, and cultures invented ways to brighten the gloom. In ancient Rome, Saturnalia began as a one-day festival honoring the god Saturn and grew into several days of feasts, candles, and small gifts. For a little while, the usual rules relaxed, and people who normally served others sat down to enjoy the feast. In China, many families gather for Dongzhi around the solstice and eat tangyuan, sweet rice balls whose round shape stands for togetherness. In Iran, families celebrate Yalda Night, the longest night, with pomegranates, watermelon, and poetry, often staying up together until dawn.

Northern Europe had its own way of celebrating the long night: the midwinter festival of Yule, with feasting and blazing logs. By the 300s, Christians in Rome were celebrating Christmas, the birth of Jesus, on December 25, just days after the solstice. Historians still debate why that date was chosen, but as Christmas spread across Europe, it met older midwinter customs and gathered some of them up. Evergreen branches, candles, and the Yule log joined many Christmas celebrations, and the old word Yule still appears in carols and greetings today.

Tiny candle flames lit Christmas trees for generations, until 1882, when Edward Johnson, a colleague of inventor Thomas Edison, wired about 80 tiny bulbs onto one in New York. Bulbs could not drip wax or ignite branches, so decorating with light slowly became safer and easier. Today, when you see a whole neighborhood sparkling with strings of lights, you are looking at a modern version of the same instinct that lit bonfires and candles in midwinter. Some 5,000 years after Newgrange's builders lined up a doorway with the winter sunrise, we still answer the year's longest night the same way: by making light.

On the morning of December 21, 1967, an Irish archaeologist named Michael J. O'Kelly sat in total darkness inside a giant mound of earth and stone in County Meath, Ireland, and waited. Then a thin golden beam of sunrise slipped through a slot above the entrance, crept down a passage about 60 feet long, and lit the floor of the chamber for about 17 minutes. The mound is called Newgrange, and its builders finished it about 5,000 years ago, centuries before the Great Pyramid of Giza. O'Kelly had just shown that Newgrange was built to catch the sunrise of the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. But why would anyone go to such trouble? Archaeologists have been arguing about that ever since.

To weigh those arguments, you first need to know what the sun was doing that morning. Earth's axis is tilted about 23.5 degrees, so in December the Northern Hemisphere leans away from the sun and gets its light at a low, stretched-out angle. In Dublin, not far from Newgrange, the solstice brings less than eight hours of daylight, compared with roughly 17 hours in June. The word solstice comes from Latin words meaning 'sun' and 'to stand still,' because for a few days the sun seems to stop sinking lower in the sky before it turns back. Here is a twist that surprises many people: Earth is actually closest to the sun in early January, so winter comes from tilt, not distance.

Because tilt runs like clockwork, the solstice sunrise returns to nearly the same spot on the horizon every year, which makes it something you can build a monument around. At Newgrange, the key feature is the roof-box, an opening above the doorway that lets low winter light travel along the passage. O'Kelly argued that this slot was built on purpose, since its precise angle seems to serve no other obvious job. Other scholars note that the chamber held cremated human remains, and they see Newgrange first as a tomb rather than a calendar. A third group says the choice is false, because a place for honoring the dead could also honor the returning light. Since the builders left no writing, nobody can settle the question for certain.

With no written words from Newgrange's builders, we turn to other peoples whose ways of meeting the long dark we do know about. In ancient Rome, the festival of Saturnalia, held in mid-December and honoring the god Saturn, brought feasting, candles, and small gifts such as clay figurines. In China, families mark Dongzhi, around December 21 or 22, by gathering to eat sweet rice balls in the south and dumplings in the north. In Iran, people celebrate Yalda on the longest night by staying up late with relatives, eating pomegranates, and reading poems by Hafez. The sky event is the same everywhere, yet each culture built its own customs on top of it, and each celebration stands on its own.

Staying up all night to welcome the light is easy to picture, but some historians go further and claim that a midwinter festival shaped the date of Christmas. Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25, though the Bible does not name a date. A Roman calendar from the year 354 lists December 25 as the day of Christ's birth, making it among the earliest written evidence for the date. One theory notes that the emperor Aurelian dedicated a temple to the sun god Sol Invictus, the 'Unconquered Sun,' in 274, and that a festival for that god was later listed on December 25. A rival theory says early Christian writers calculated that Jesus was conceived on March 25, and nine months later is December 25. Because the surviving evidence is thin, historians still weigh both ideas, and neither has settled the question.

Disagreement is part of what keeps the solstice interesting, but here is something nobody argues about: Newgrange still works. Each year, far more people enter a lottery for a place inside the chamber at solstice sunrise than the small space can hold. Meanwhile, in Australia, the December solstice is the longest day of the year and the start of summer. Some 5,000 years and countless sunrises after its builders shaped that slot, the same thin golden beam still slides down the passage on the shortest day.