Winter Solstice

The winter solstice is the astronomical moment when the Sun reaches its lowest declination of -23.44 degrees, marking the shortest day and longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. It occurs around December 21 annually and has been observed as a time of renewal, family gathering, and the symbolic rebirth of light.

The Atlas reads the winter solstice as the minimum that the summer solstice measures against. The two are declared as opposite points on the solar year, so neither is described as an isolated date: each is half of a relationship whose meaning comes from the distance between them.

The winter solstice also exists in the Atlas as a solar term. The registry declares the winter solstice solar term as occurring during this event, which is the one place where the astronomical layer and the seasonal-term layer meet for this entity.

Observance is recorded rather than generalised. Litha is declared to mirror this point on the wheel of the year, which is how the Atlas holds a pagan midsummer observance and a solstice in view of each other without collapsing them into one thing. The solstice is the astronomical fact; Litha is one named way of marking it, and it is registered separately for that reason.