Winter Solstice Festivals From Around the World

It’s almost midwinter, and that means we’re all suffering through those long, dark days that seem to never end.

It’s not a new feeling, though. In fact, humans have been looking forward to the end of winter since, well, forever! 

The winter solstice marks the shortest day of the year, and people have been celebrating it for millennia. Here’s what it means, how it started and how it’s still celebrated today!

What is the winter solstice?

The winter solstice is a phenomenon that has been occurring since the earliest days of our planet’s history — long before Earth ever hosted a living creature. And though it’s been recognized and celebrated by humans since the dawn of mankind, it’s a completely natural occurrence that will continue long after human history ends and life on Earth dies away.

If there’s one constant in our little solar system’s universe, it’s that the sun will rise and set every day no matter what. And, once a year, the sun will appear to rise and set further south (for us in the northern hemisphere, at least) than any other time of the year. This results in the shortest day and the longest night a hemisphere will experience all year, and it marks the middle of the winter season. 

There’s a pretty simple explanation for this phenomenon, and it’s all to do with Earth’s orbit around the sun. The Earth’s axis is slightly tilted so that one hemisphere is always angled a little closer to the sun than the other — the half that is “leaning” toward the sun will be exposed to more solar energy than the half leaning away, giving us the various degrees of heat throughout the year. 

At each solstice, one hemisphere will experience the most solar energy from the sun and experience the longest day of the year. This typically marks the middle of that hemisphere’s summer and indicates that the planet is heading toward shorter days and, as a result, colder seasons. The summer solstice typically falls on June 21 in the northern hemisphere and December 21 in the southern.

While one hemisphere experiences the warmest and longest day of the year (the summer solstice), the other will simultaneously experience the shortest, coldest and darkest day of the year. In regions close to the poles, the sun may not rise above the horizon at all! This, of course, is the winter solstice, and while it marks the middle of winter, it also heralds the arrival of longer days, more sunshine and the approaching days of spring. The winter solstice, then, falls on the same day as the opposite hemisphere is experiencing its summer solstice; December 21 in the northern hemisphere and June 21 in the southern.

7 ways the winter solstice is celebrated in the world

Ancient peoples carefully tracked the passage of the sun and moon throughout the year and divided the seasons based on the locations of either the sun (the basis of the solar calendar) or the moon (the basis of the lunar calendar). The cultures that used the sun’s passage to mark the passage of time often marked the start of the summer and winter seasons by the solstices, and thus honored those points of time with festivals, rituals and celebrations. 

For pre-industrial peoples that relied on the natural world for planting, hunting and gathering, the winter solstice was a welcome celebration in what was, for many, the midst of a harsh cold and bitter winter. Thus, people throughout human history have looked to the winter solstice as a symbol of the end of winter, or hope, of the victory of light over darkness, of the end of death and of the promise of new life. Today, those celebrations live on in modern adaptations of this timeless natural phenomenon.

Saturnalia

One of the oldest recorded celebrations of the winter solstice was Saturnalia, a week-long festival celebrated in Ancient Rome. The festival honored the god Saturn (the Roman counterpart of the Greek god Kronos), who was the god of agriculture and a powerful-yet-mythical king of ancient Italy. It’s no longer celebrated, but its impact on modern culture is huge, to say the least!

During the celebration, all slaves would switch places with their masters and were allowed to eat, drink and self-indulge as much as they wanted. Businesses shut down and the social order was relaxed, allowing everyone to be frivolous and do what they pleased — an homage to the time when Saturn was king and, allegedly, citizens were at their most happy. 

Holly and ivy plants were hung as decoration in reference to Saturn’s club, which was made of holly wood, and his bird companion, which made its nest in ivy. Candles and fires were built to symbolize blessings and the return of the sun, and evergreen trees and wreaths were decorated to represent growth and new life.

If this is all sounding pretty familiar, it’s because many of these customs were adopted for religious holidays by early Christians in the early fourth century. The Roman Emperor Constantine famously declared Christianity to be the official faith of the Roman Empire, and many pagan celebrations were discarded in favor of Christian ones. Saturnalia became the birthday of Jesus Christ, and the symbolic holly became representative of Christ’s blood and crown of thorns. 

In fact, many Christmas traditions have their roots in ancient pagan celebrations of the winter solstice. Even the idea of Santa Claus has its roots in various Christian adaptations of pagan figures — the more you know!

Dongzhi

Translated to mean “the arrival of winter,” Dongzhi is based on the Chinese celestial calendar and celebrates the end of the harvest season. Harvest foods like yam, rice and vegetables take center stage at Dongzhi feast tables, and families get together to enjoy the fruits of their labor and the end of a productive year. 

Inti Raymi

This Incan celebration of the winter solstice dates back to ancient Incan times and honors the birth of the sun god, Inti. Though Spanish conquistadors and settlers banned the celebration after their arrival in the 16th century, Into Raymi has since been revived and celebrated in the city of Cusco, which was once the ancient capital of the Incan Empire. 

Soyal

The Hopi people of Northern Arizona celebrate the winter solstice with the celebration of Soyal, a nearly 2-week-long festival in which the sun is woken back up from its slumber. 

Soyal is one of the most important times of the year, and is celebrated by exchanging prayer sticks among the community and giving children small carvings of various Katsinam (protective spirits and messengers of prayers into the universe). 

St. Lucia's Day

Originally an ancient festival of lights in early Scandinavia, this winter solstice celebration once featured bonfires that were lit to alter the course of the sun. When Christianity arrived in Scandinavia, the festival was adapted to honor St. Lucia, a martyr and symbol of hope and light. 

Toji

This Japanese celebration of the winter solstice focuses on health during the coldest months of winter ahead. People will bathe in warm baths infused with aromatic yuzu fruits that release a fresh, citrus scent in order to ward off colds, and common foods include the shelf-stable kabocha squash that’s packed with vitamins and minerals. 

Shabe Yalda

Also known as Yalda, this Iranian celebration of the winter solstice celebrates the birth of the sun god Mithra and the victory of light over dark. It’s a celebration that’s been observed since ancient times and has historically marked the end of the month of Azar in the Persian calendar. 

However you celebrate the middle of winter, know that humans have been doing the same thing since the earliest days of mankind! How cool is that?

Enjoy!

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Featured photo by Renny Gamarra on Unsplash