What Does the Word Solstice Mean?
Solstice refers to the two times of the year when the sun is closest to and farthest from the earth's equator. The word itself is of Latin origin with "sol" meaning "sun" and "sistere" meaning "stand still." The latter refers to the sun's apparent stoppage in the sky as observed by someone on Earth.
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Time Frame
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There are hemispheric differences in the timing of the solstices. In the northern hemisphere, the summer solstice occurs when the earth is tilted at its northernmost point toward the sun, on or near June 21. The winter solstice occurs when the sun is farthest south, on or near December 21. These dates are reversed in the southern hemisphere--the winter solstice occurs on or near June 21 and the summer solstice occurs on or near December 21.
Facts
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The solstices are referred to as the longest and shortest days of the year because of the amount of time between sunrise and sunset on these days. It's greatest at summer solstice and least at winter solstice. The astronomical counterpart of the solstice is an equinox, a term that originally referred to day and night being of equal length.
The timing of the solstices is determined by solar declination, which measures how many degrees north or south the sun is from the earth. The declinations at the winter and summer solstices are known as the Tropic of Capricorn and Tropic of Cancer respectively. The tropical year refers to the length between solstice to solstice or equinox to equinox.
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Trivia
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Stonehenge, the famous stone circle in England, is positioned so that the sun rises just over the Heel stone portion of the monument on the summer solstice. Since the sun was prevalent in early mythology, archeologists still debate as to whether this positioning means that Stonehenge was built for astronomical or religious purposes, or both.
Celebrations
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Knowledge of the changing of the seasons was paramount to early agricultural people since their survival could depend on successful crops. Festivities involved celebrating the solstices and continue this day. Modern nature-based religions, especially neopagan ones such as Wicca, count the solstices among their most important holidays.
Misconceptions
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While people in the U.S. generally consider the solstices the start of the winter and summer seasons, this wasn't always the case for the rest of the world. Since the tilt of the Earth's equator is at its zenith at solstices and then begins to turn, these times are considered midpoints of the seasons instead of the start. In fact, another term for the summer solstice is midsummer. Traditionally, May 1 was considered the beginning of summer.
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