Fed up with it getting dark at 4pm? Well after Sunday, the days will start to get a little longer.
The 21 December marks the winter solstice, which brings with it the shortest day and the longest night of the year.
Daylight will last for approximately eight hours in London, 49 minutes shorter than the June solstice.
The actual moment of the solstice will occur at 3.03pm in the UK, but most people mark the whole day. Solstice is recognised by holidays and festivals in many cultures around the world.
People celebrating last year at Newgrange, Co Meath. Pic: PA
It also means from Monday 22 December, days will start to get a little bit longer in the Northern Hemisphere, every single day until late June.
The increase in daylight will be minuscule at first, just a matter of seconds a day, but will steadily grow until daylight expands by three minutes every day in March, according to weather forecast website Almanac.
The exact amount of brightness gained depends on where you are in the world.
A person dressed as ‘An Gobha’, the Blacksmith of the Boyne Valley, at Newgrange. Pic: PA
Glastonbury Tor in Somerset. Pic: PA
What is the winter solstice?
Also known as Yule, the solstice is a celebration of light and the symbolic rebirth of the sun.
It marks the first day of winter in the astronomical calendar, whilst in the meteorological calendar – used by meteorologists and scientists to track and compare seasons – it is already three weeks into winter.
Scientifically, winter solstice is the time of year when the Earth is at its most extreme tilt toward or away from the sun.
Pic: PA
The tilt means the Northern and Southern hemispheres get very different amounts of sunlight – and days and nights are at their most unequal.
During the Northern Hemisphere’s winter solstice, the upper half of the Earth is tilted away from the sun, creating the shortest day and longest night of the year.
A woman touching the stones of Stonehenge on winter solstice. Pic: PA
Meanwhile, at the summer solstice, the Northern Hemisphere is toward the sun, creating the longest day and shortest night of the year. This solstice falls between 20 and 22 June.
However, the dates of the equinox and solstice aren’t fixed due to the Earth’s elliptical orbit of the Sun.
Pic: PA
What is the equinox?
During the spring and fall equinoxes, the Earth’s axis and its orbit line up so that both hemispheres get an equal amount of sunlight.
On the equinox, day and night last almost the same amount of time – hence where we get the term, which comes from two Latin words meaning equal and night.
Whereas solstices kick off summer and winter, equinoxes mark the start of spring and autumn.
Why do the dates vary?
The date of the equinoxes and solstices varies because a year in the modern day Gregorian calendar does not exactly match the length of time it takes for the Earth to complete an orbit around the Sun.
Pic: iStock
This means the timing of equinoxes and solstices slowly drift apart from the Gregorian calendar, and the solstice happens about six hours later each year.
Eventually, the lag becomes so large that it falls on a different date.
To realign the calendar with the Earth’s orbit, a leap day is introduced every four years.
When this happens, the equinox and solstice dates shift back to the earlier date.
How to celebrate in the UK and Ireland
The winter solstice is celebrated all over the world and has been for thousands of years.
It is one of the key occasions when English Heritage allows people near the stones that make up Stonehenge.
In previous years, huge crowds of people have gathered at the site on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire to watch the sunrise – which typically happens just after 8am.
Stonehenge is built on the alignment of the midsummer sunrise and the midwinter sunset and it is believed that solstices have been celebrated there for thousands of years.
The public also gather at the ancient site of Newgrange in Co Meath, Ireland.
People gather at Newgrange, Co Meath. Pic: PA
The monument – which consists of a large circular mound with an inner stone passageway – is illuminated every year as sunlight enters through a small opening above the entrance known as “the roof box”.
The chamber is lit up for 17 minutes, in a phenomenon that members of the public gather to see first-hand.
In Penzance, Cornwall, the solstice is marked by the annual Montol Festival.
Participants carry lanterns during the Burning the Clocks parade in 2022. Pic: PA
First organised in 2007, the festival is a revival of traditional Cornish midwinter customs and traditions that stretch back for hundreds of years.
It consists of people dressing up in costumes and masks, performing and, when it gets dark, a procession through the main town.
Burning the Clocks will return to Brighton in 2026. Pic: PA
Typically, on the south coast, the Burning the Clocks parade takes place in Brighton. However, the event will not be happening in 2025, with plans to return in 2026.
It usually consists of a parade where locals carry homemade paper and willow lanterns through the town and, at the end, throw them on to a bonfire on the beach.
