Days Until Winter Solstice (Northern Hemisphere, approx.)
Days until Winter Solstice (Northern Hemisphere, approx.)
Exact date varies by 1 day year to year; December 21 used as the common approximation.
About Winter Solstice (Northern Hemisphere, approx.)
December 20-22 marks the Northern Hemisphere's winter solstice most years — the shortest daylight span of the entire calendar, produced by the hemisphere's maximum tilt away from the Sun at that point in Earth's orbit.
It's the Southern Hemisphere's summer solstice at the same moment, a reminder that solstice naming is hemisphere-relative; this page uses December 21 as a common reference approximation.
Many cultures independently developed midwinter festivals timed near this date, including the Roman Saturnalia and various Northern European Yule traditions, some of which historians believe influenced the eventual timing of Christmas itself.
Iran and several other countries with Persian cultural roots celebrate Yalda, a winter solstice-night festival with ancient Zoroastrian roots, involving family gatherings that traditionally last until sunrise.
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