Tonight Is the Winter Solstice, the Longest Night of the Year
The solstice hits at exactly 11:48 p.m. EST Monday.
If you are reading this sober and miserable at work wondering where the sun has disappeared to, there is good news and bad news.
Bad News: Today is the Winter Solstice, which means it is the shortest day and longest night of the year and we are all devoured alive by blackness and sorrow.
Good News: From here on out the days will get incrementally longer and before you know it you’ll be at a party on somebody’s roof this summer with a beer in your hand and the recognizable smell of suntan lotion and probably someone blaring a Drake song or something and everything will be chill.
We can make it together!
The solstice hits at exactly the same time everywhere on Earth and in the U.S. you can peg it at 11:48 p.m. EST Monday night.
At that exact moment, the Northern Hemisphere has tilted the farthest from the sun it will be all year. Why the hell is the Earth’s axis tilting like that? Good question, but this is one of those mysteries science doesn’t have a definitive answer for, though some believe it’s the result of the planet being battered by the birth pains of the universe billions and billions and billions of years ago.
Ancient people didn’t know about the tilt, but they did know the same feeling we do, the eerie sensation that the entire world was being swallowed. So they threw parties. The proximity to Christmas may not be a mere coincidence. And Stonehenge remains a popular site to mark the occasion to this day.
In the spirit of these ancient peoples and anticipation of the sun’s return, we suggest that unless you are enjoying this blackest of blackness, you too do a little celebrating.
