‘Dec. 21 marks the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s the shortest day of the year, and it’s rooted in astronomical and religious significance.

Many early cultures celebrated this as the day the sun “came back,” commencing a period of longer days. Here are five things to know about the winter solstice….’ (Kathryn Whitbourne via HowStuffWorks)

The Shortest Day

So the Shortest Day came and the year died

And everywhere down the centuries of the snow‐white world

Came people singing, dancing,

To drive the dark away.

They lighted candles in the winter trees;

They hung their homes with evergreen;

They burned beseeching fires all night long

To keep the year alive.

And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake

They shouted, reveling.

Through all the frosty ages you can hear them

Echoing behind us ‐ listen!

All the long echoes, sing the same delight,

This Shortest Day,

As promise wakens in the sleeping land:

They carol, feast, give thanks,

And dearly love their friends,

And hope for peace.

And so do we, here, now,

This year and every year.

Welcome Yule!

— Susan Cooper