The Light Cometh Beginning On the Shortest Day of the Year

The Winter Solstice arrives quietly in the pre-dawn hours of Dec. 22 - Thursday bringing with it the light.

Popularly known as the first day of winter and the shortest day of the year --- the solstice marks the beginning of the light. The days start getting longer.

We can't see the light until late January, but just knowing that it's coming lifts the spirits, lightens the step and joyful ushers in the holiday season.

The word solstice comes from the Latin words "sun" and "to stop, due to the fact that the Sun seems to stop in the sky. The Sun is directly overhead at "high-noon" on Winter Solstice at the latitude called the Tropic of Capricorn. In the Northern Hemisphere, the solstice days are the days with the fewest hours of sunlight during the whole year, The Farmers Almanac reports.

Encyclopedia Britannica reports: According to the astronomical definition of the seasons, the winter solsticemarks the beginning of the season of winter, which lasts until the vernal equinox (March 20 or 21 in the Northern Hemisphere, or September 22 or 23 in the Southern Hemisphere). After the solstice, the days get longer, and the day has thus been celebrated in many cultures as a time of rebirth.