The Winter Solstice will be at 5:03 PM (CST) today. It is Summer in the Southern Hemisphere. The Mayans did not actually predict the end of the world on the 21st of December 2012 despite what the History Channel would have had you believe. Not that any of you bought into that nonsense. The Earth’s axis is tilted 23.5 degrees with relation to its orbital plane around the Sun. The Winter Solstice occurs when the North Pole is pointed the farthest away from Sun. The Sun does not actually warm the air. The Suns radiation heats up the ground then that heat is transferred to the air. When the Sun’s rays are more perpendicular to the ground, it is more efficient at heating it up. Today is the shortest day of the year for us in the Northern Hemisphere and longest night. (I mean, the day is actually the same amount of time, I am simply referring to how long the Sun is up). From this day forward, every day will be progressively longer until the Summer Solstice on June 21st, 2015. The understanding I have of the relationship between Christmas and the Winter Solstice is that Christmas was intentionally selected to align with the Pagan Holiday to be more attractive and relatable to non-christians with the intent of recruiting them. The Bible never gives a date. Maybe someone with more knowledge in the area can clean that up for me. I know a lot of people are traveling now as they get some time off work and are visiting family and friends. I hope you all stay safe and enjoy your holidays. Happy Solstice.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 20:18:52 +0000