The longest day of the year is called the summer solstice and the shortest day of the year is called the winter solstice.
Every year has the shortest day and the longest night. The exact dates vary, but the order is always the same: earliest sunset in early December, shortest day at the solstice around December 22, latest sunrise in early January. And so the cycle goes on.Why does Solstice happen?
❀ The weather changes several times a year. Sometimes it is hot and sometimes it is cold. According to these seasons, the length of the day also keeps on changing. The only reason for this is that the earth is tilted on its axis and keeps rotating on its axis.
❀ For this reason, the Sun is inclined towards the North Pole for half the year and towards the South Pole for the remaining half of the year. The season is decided because of this rotation of the earth. The side where the inclination of the sun is more, there the sunlight reaches more and there is more heat. On the other hand, where the sunlight reaches less, it is cold there.
❀ The Earth is tilted 23 and a half degrees on its axis, due to which the distance of the Sun is greater than in the Northern Hemisphere.
❀ From this day, snowfall increases on the mountains and it starts getting colder in the plains.
❀ On the day of the winter solstice, the day will be just 10 hours 41 minutes while the night will be 13 hours 19 minutes. The time from sunrise to sunset is called a day. During this the sun sets before its scheduled time.
❀ If we talk about the Northern Hemisphere, then here it is completely opposite. Here the summer solstice occurs on 21 or 22 December while the winter solstice occurs on 21 or 22 June. So for example, when it is summer in North America, it is winter in South America.
In the Vedic tradition, the northward movement of the earth, known as the Surya Siddhanta, was considered to be the period between
Makar Sankranti and
Karka Sankranti and was called
Uttarayana. In this way the winter solstice is called the first day of Uttarayan.
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