In ancient times, the Chinese people celebrated the Winter Solstice Festival (Dong Zhi) by visiting relatives and friends, in much the same way as the Chinese Lunar New Year. There is customary feasting, and businesses will close up for the day. Glutinous floor balls known as "tang yuan" are consumed as a symbol of family unity and harmony on this day.
But just what is the winter solstice?
A solstice is an astronomical expression that explains the time of year when the sun is spaced very far away from our equator. There is one solstice in the summer, corresponding to the longest day of the year, and another in the winter, corresponding to the shortest day of the year. The seasons may vary, however, considering the hemisphere you are talking about.
A solstice is created when the earth tilts away from the sun for a particular hemisphere. While the earth is orbiting around the sun, it is also spinning on its axis. This tilting results in one hemisphere being nearer to the sun, causing the summer while the adjacent hemisphere is further away, causing the winter.
The word "Solstice" is derived from two Latin words: "sol" meaning sun, and "sistere," to cause to stand still. They form the word solstitium by combining sol (which means sun) and stitium (which means stop). When the solstice occurs, it appears as if the sun is doing exactly that. It reaches almost the same height at mid day for a few days around the solstice.
The winter solstice for the northern hemisphere occurs on one of two dates: December 21st or 22nd every year and the sun will be shinning directly over the tropic of Capricorn. June 20th or 21st is the winter solstice for the southern hemisphere, which occurs when the sun is shinning directly over the tropic of Cancer.
The shortest day and longest night of the year are celebrated by the Winter Solstice. This day is considered to be the mid-point of winter by many societies on their calendars. Amazingly, in the past 3,000 years, the date of the solstice has moved only one day.
Due to the fact that the sun seemed to be reborn as the days grew longer, a lot of ancient cultures naturally celebrated this time of rebirth as the winter solstice.
This was frequently thought of as a blessed transformation with the removal of evil from the earth since the darkness is considered evil, and this was overcome by the light which is considered to be good. Currently, celebrations of light are still observed by some cultures. As well as the Chinese Dong Zhi festival, the Germanic society observes Yule and the Hindus observe Diwali, a festival of light.
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