Winter Solstice is Today
Today marks the Northern Hemisphere’s Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. It doesn’t officially begin until 6:03 p.m. Easter Time, 3:03 here on the West Coast. Sunrise was at 6:48 a.m. this morning and sunset takes place at 4:47 p.m.
From now until June 21, 2015, the days will start to get longer; sunrises will be earlier and sunsets will get later, until the Northern Hemisphere is pointed at its closest distance to the sun for the Summer Solstice — June 21, 2015.
Some people will celebrate the holiday of Yule, the rebirth of the sun. Most people won’t partake in a weeklong celebration like that of Saturnalia in Ancient Roman times, but people around the world will mark this occasion with feasts.
This is also the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere where, in most parts of this nation, people will endure a winter filled with snow, ice storms and sub-freezing temperatures. Here in Southern California, as the Facebook memes will tell everyone, we like seeing winter on TV.
The next seasonal calendar celebration will be the Spring Equinox, March 2o, 2015, in which the day and night are both twelve hours long.
Happy Winter Solstice from the Los Angeles Post-Examiner.
Los Angeles Post-Examiner is not the typical news platform. We go beyond headlines, creating a space for fiction writers, poets, comedians and musicians to share their talent and be discovered. Inspired by the Beatles’ vision behind Apple Corps Ltd, they opened the door to all kinds of inspiring talent that never really got a shot. From that came the likes of James Taylor and many others. By providing a similar approach we can shine the light on some tremendous undiscovered talent and at the same time offer some familiar voices who live in Los Angeles and beyond.
