The Winter solstice occurs annually on 21st of December in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the time at which the Sun appears at noon at its lowest altitude above the horizon it usually occurs on December 21 to 22 each year in the Northern Hemisphere, Which also corresponds to the Summer Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.
Conversely the time at which the Sun is at its northernmost point in the sky in the southern hemisphere corresponds to The Winter Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere and the Summers Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, this usually occurs annually between June 20 to 21 each year.
The axial tilt of the Earth and gyroscopic effects of the planet’s daily rotation tends to keep the axis of rotation pointed at the same point in the sky. As the Earth follows its orbit around the Sun, the same hemisphere that faced away from the Sun, experiencing winter, will, in Six months time, face towards the Sun and experience summer.
Since the two hemispheres face opposite directions along the planetary pole, as one polar hemisphere experiences winter, the other experiences summer. Winter Solstice is more evident from high latitudes, where it occurs on the shortest day and longest night of the year, when the sun’s daily maximum elevation in the sky is the lowest. Since the winter solstice lasts only a moment in time, other terms are often used for the day on which it occurs, such as “midwinter”, “the longest night”, “the shortest day” or “the first day of winter”. The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days. Worldwide, interpretation of the event has varied from culture to culture, but most Northern Hemisphere cultures have held a recognition of rebirth, involving holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations around that time.
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