How it works
Sixty-three questions for the shortest day of the year, each with four choices and the reason behind its answer, checked in the article linked under it.
Read the full guide
Five rounds, from the sky to the South Pole
The shortest day in the sky is the astronomy: the tilt, the twilight of the polar night, a tropic that creeps north. Tombs, circles and temples that catch the Sun goes inside Newgrange and Maeshowe. Midwinter from Rome to Brighton runs from Ovid to a bonfire of paper lanterns. Dongzhi, Yalda and the East sets the table. The Americas and Antarctica at midwinter keeps the day in June.
- South of the equator the winter solstice comes in June: The Americas and Antarctica at midwinter has the Inca festival and the polar stations' feast.
- On December 21, start from Tombs, circles and temples that catch the Sun: the chamber of Newgrange is lit that very morning.
Questions and answers
When is the winter solstice?
In the Northern Hemisphere it is the December solstice, on December 21 or 22. In the Southern Hemisphere it is the June solstice, on June 20 or 21. It is the day with the least daylight and the longest night.
What happens on the winter solstice?
One of Earth's poles is tilted as far from the Sun as it gets. The Sun crosses the sky on its lowest arc of the year, and from that day the hours of daylight begin to grow again.
Is the winter solstice the first day of winter?
By one astronomical reckoning, yes: winter begins at the winter solstice and ends at the March equinox. By another, and by tradition in many temperate regions, the solstice is the middle of winter, and midwinter is another name for it.
Which monuments are aligned with the winter solstice?
Newgrange in Ireland faces the solstice sunrise and Stonehenge the solstice sunset. Maeshowe in Orkney lets in the setting Sun, the Goseck Circle in Germany has entrances for both, and a temple at Karnak is lined up with the sunrise.
How is the winter solstice celebrated around the world?
With rice balls at Dongzhi in China, red bean porridge in Korea and a hot yuzu bath in Japan. Iranians sit up on Yalda Night, Antarctic stations hold a midwinter feast in June, and Brighton burns paper lanterns on the beach.