The December solstice marks the longest night in Northern Hemisphere and longest day in the Southern Hemisphere. Celebration time!
Late dawn. Early sunset. Short day. Long night. For us in the Northern Hemisphere, the December solstice marks the longest night and shortest day of the year. Meanwhile, the Southern Hemisphere is having its longest day and shortest night.

If you live near the equator, you won’t notice much difference in the amount of sunlight you receive throughout the year. The biggest noticeable difference is at the poles, where each solstice brings an extreme in the hours of sunlight you receive; in summer the Sun never properly sets for weeks, and in winter it never rises, creating some of the most inhospitable environments on Earth.

The earliest people on Earth knew that the sun’s path across the sky, the length of daylight, and the location of the sunrise and sunset all shifted in a regular way throughout the year. They built monuments such as Stonehenge in England – or, for example, at Machu Picchu in Peru – to follow the sun’s yearly progress.

The word solstice comes from Latin Sol (sun) and sistere (to not move), winter solstice meaning Sun standstill in winter.