 Winter solstice, the winter solstice or hibernol solstice also known as midwinter, is an astronomical phenomenon marking the day with the shortest period of daylight and the longest night of the year. It occurs when one of the earth's poles has its maximum tilt away from the sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemp's fear. In the northern hemp's fear this is the December solstice and in the southern hemp's fear this is the June solstice. The axial tilt of earth and gyroscopic effects of its daily rotation mean that the two opposite points in the sky to which the earth's axis of rotation points axial precession changed very slowly and the current rate it would take just under 26,000 years to make a complete circle. As the earth follows its orbit around the sun, the polar hemp's fear that faced away from the sun, experiencing winter, will, in half a year, face towards the sun and experience summer. This is because the two hemp's fears face opposite directions along the earth's axis, and so as one polar hemp's fear experiences winter, the other experiences summer. More evident from high latitudes, a hemp's fear's winter solstice occurs on the day with the shortest period of daylight and longest night of the year, when the sun's daily maximum elevation in the sky is at its lowest. Although the winter solstice itself lasts only a moment in time, the term sometimes refers to the day on which it occurs. Other names are midwinter the extreme of winter.e or the shortest day. In some cultures it is seen as the middle of winter, while in others it is seen as the beginning of winter. In meteorology, winter in the northern hemp's fear spans the entire period of December through February. The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening hours of daylight during the day. The earliest sunset and latest sunrise dates differ from winter solstice, however, and these depend on latitude, due to the variation in the solar day throughout the year caused by the Earth's elliptical orbit C. earliest and latest sunrise and sunset. Worldwide, interpretation of the event has varied across cultures, but many have held the recognition of rebirth, involving holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations around that time.