Winter Solstice Celebrations in Library of Congress Collections

This post was written by Dianne Choie, Educational Programs Specialist at the Library of Congress.

You might notice that it gets darker outside earlier and earlier as the weather turns colder. Did you know that the tilt of the Earth is the reason that happens? Instead of spinning on a straight axis like a top, our planet spins on an angle. During the summer, the northern hemisphere is tilted toward the sun, resulting in longer days and warmer temperatures. If you’ve visited the Library of Congress in the summer, you know how hot and sunny Washington, D.C. can get at that time of year!

The northern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun in the winter, which makes shorter days and cooler temperatures. The southern hemisphere has the reverse experience of the northern hemisphere, which is why their wintertime is our summertime and vice versa. Learn more about how the Earth’s tilt affects seasons in this Library of Congress Everyday Mysteries blog post.

“Winter solstice” is what we call the day of the year when the Earth’s tilt means the sun is farthest away, resulting in the shortest period of light in the day and the longest period of darkness at night. There is also a summer solstice when each hemisphere is tilted closest to the sun. The northern hemisphere’s winter solstice is at the same time as the southern hemisphere’s summer solstice, and the southern hemisphere’s winter solstice is at the same time as the northern hemisphere’s summer solstice. For us here in the northern hemisphere, this year the winter solstice is on December 21, 2024. If you’re in the southern hemisphere, your winter solstice happens on Saturday, June 21 in 2025.

The winter solstice has been celebrated by people all around the world for thousands of years. Do you or your family have any traditions to mark this special day? Let’s take a look at some of the images in the Library of Congress collection that are related to the winter solstice.

The Hopi Indians of northern Arizona mark the winter solstice with Soyalangwul, or Soyal, a ritual ceremony that marks the increase of daylight following the solstice. It is said that Kachinas, the spirits that protect the Hopi, come down from the mountains at this time to bring the sun back from its sleep. The community is blessed with prayer sticks, and Soyal ceremonies end with public dancing. Are there times you gather with people in your community to celebrate a holiday or other occasion?

The Persian celebration of Shab-e-Yalda, or Yalda, which means birth or renewal, also takes place during the winter solstice. Yalda is traditionally viewed as light’s victory over darkness, and it is also the birthday of the sun god Mithra. Families celebrate by reading poems and telling stories by candlelight and eating a meal together that includes pomegranates, a symbol of fertility and light. What winter traditions do you have with your family?

People have also constructed buildings and other structures associated with the winter solstice. In Petra, an ancient city in modern day Jordan, massive pieces of architecture were carved into stone cliffs between the third century B.C. and the first century A.D. Modern scientists have found that the orientation of the buildings align with the position of the sun. During sunset on the winter solstice, sunlight illuminates a sacred podium inside the monastery Ed-Deir. Historians think that people of Petra may have held ceremonies in this space during the solstice. People probably thought it was such a special experience to see the light hitting the inside of the building at just the right moment!

The Karnak Temple Complex in Egypt was also built to take advantage of the sun’s position during the solstice. Construction began around 2000 B.C. and continued for over two thousand years. The Great Hypostyle Hall at the center of the complex is a monument made of 134 massive stone columns over 65 feet tall and covering an acre of land (imagine about two-thirds of a football field). Also in Karnak is the Holy of Holies shrine dedicated to the Egyptian sun god Amun. During sunrise on the winter solstice, the sun is aligned with the long corridor of the Great Hypostyle Hall. As the sun rises higher, its light enters the Holy of Holies and illuminates Amun’s statue. It must be a magical experience to see the alignment between the sun and these structures from thousands of years ago!

Let’s make one more stop on our journey to places around the world that celebrate the winter solstice. Angkor Wat is a temple complex in Cambodia that was built in the 12^th century. It includes more than one thousand buildings covering 400 acres (that’s the size of two and a half Disneylands!), and it is the largest religious structure in the world. A temple called Pre Rup about four miles away was designed to match up with Angkor Wat and the position of the sun. At the winter solstice, you can stand at Pre Rup and see the sun set over Angkor Wat, the light aligning with different doorways and paths in the temple complex as the sun sinks below the horizon. Can you imagine what that might look like?

Will you do anything to celebrate the shortest day of the year this December, or does your family have any other traditions for this time of year? Maybe you’ll gather with friends and neighbors like the Hopi, or maybe you’ll share a special meal the way they do in Persian culture. No matter how you might mark the increasing daylight this winter, we hope you stay cozy and have a happy new year!