Today the shortest day of the year is officially in winter

Tonight is winter solstice - the moment when the sun in its visible movement reaches its southernmost point.

Officially, winter has started, which means that longer days and more daylights await us from today.

Tonight in the Northern Hemisphere is longer, and day is shorter.

The winter solstice date, the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, usually corresponds to the first day of winter.

But the date of the winter solstice may vary from 20 December to 23 December.

Winter Solstice marks a major annual turning point, the astronomical beginning of winter, and the transition to a period when days become longer and brighter and nights shorten.

The term solstice comes from Latin solstium, meaning “sun rest”.

Winter Solstice is an event celebrated by ancient peoples, and it frightened them.

Because of the brief day in many ancient cultures, December 21 was celebrated as the day of death and the rebirth of deities that symbolized fertility, light, and sun.

And here is the shortest day, the situation is quite different in the southern hemisphere, where only ten percent of the world's population live.

So there the December solstice marks the longest day of the year and the beginning of summer.