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Misconception: In Winter the days are always becoming shorter.
This is not true – as a matter of fact, days are getting longer in Winter. It is in the contextual detail: Though we associate the decrease of daylight hours in autumn (and increased likelihood of snowfall in December) with Winter time, the actual Winter only starts on the day of solstice, so the day after which daytime hours start increasing again. So, the sun is at its lowest point on the sky at mid-day today (during the third
week in December in the northern hemisphere) and represents the ‘beginning of winter’. This is actually a cool fact and a "pretty fantastic" reason to celebrate, and to appreciate the Winter perhaps even a little more.
There are plenty of Christmas songs, but few about the winter solstice, though celebrating the shortest day of the year is quite important (not only in the northern hemisphere). I found a Jethro Tull song on a 7"single from 1976. "Ring Out, Solstice Bells" The song describes a solstice celebration in medieval times, with
dancing druids and ringing bells. The song is also featured on the album "Songs From The Wood".
Sometimes people are not sure whether the solstice is on the 21st or 22nd of December, but to be precise this year it is on Tuesday, 21 December 2021, at 15:59:18. You can check its countdown here: www.timeanddate.com/countdown/December Solstice
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