What does Google's new doodle mean for the winter solstice?

In the morning Sunday, December 22, at 06:19, the Sun was found at Winter Solstice and thus began the winter in Greece and in the northern hemisphere in general.

Τthe night of the solstice and the next ones will be the biggest of the year in duration. Conversely, summer will begin in the southern hemisphere, with the daytime peak.

When the Sun reaches its autumnal equinox in September, there is about equal day and night, but then the night gradually increases at the expense of the day. When the Sun passes the winter solstice, it begins to rise higher and higher in the sky again, with the result that the day regains the lost "ground", until at the vernal equinox the light and the darkness again have almost equal duration.

The winter solstice does not always "fall" on the same date, but it ranges between the 20th and the 23rd of December, with the most probable dates being the 21st and the 22nd. The last time the winter solstice fell on December 23 was in 1903 and it will not happen again before 2303. These calendar fluctuations are due to the Gregorian Calendar.

The winter solstice no longer occurs on December 25, as in the time of Christ, but a little earlier, because the older Julian Calendar, introduced by Julius Caesar from 44 BC, has been replaced. and which had established the winter solstice on December 25, but lost one day every 128 years. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced a new calendar, named after him (Gregorian), which loses only one day in its 4.000 years.

The Sun was worshiped by the ancients as a god and almost all ancient peoples instituted various festivals in his honor, from the Scandinavians and Iranians to the Maya and the Incas. Almost everywhere, the biggest celebrations took place during the winter solstice, which was considered the celebration of the birth of the Sun, which also marked the beginning of the new year. Prehistoric monuments such as Stonehenge in Britain are believed to have been associated with recording the movements of the Sun in the sky.

Central to the Romans was the celebration of the "invincible Sun" on December 25, when it was celebrated that the Sun began to rise in the sky again and thus the days grew. The first Christians in Rome, who secretly resorted to their catacombs, decided to celebrate the birth of Christ on the same date, December 25, when the Romans celebrated their own feasts of Saturnalia.

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