Winter Solstice at Viles Arboretum

Come together at Viles Arboretum to celebrate the Winter Solstice with music, storytelling, and community.

The evening will start with a guided walk through the stunning Animals After Dark exhibit, ending with a bonfire and an opportunity to take a moment to honor the aspects of nature that are most important to you.

This special event honors both the light and darkness, providing hope and optimism for the year to come.

Tickets

• $20 non-members

• $15 members

• Ages 16+. All attendees must have a ticket

• Pre-registration is suggested

The winter solstice marks the official beginning of astronomical winter (as opposed to meteorological winter, which starts about 3 weeks before the solstice). It occurs once a year in each hemisphere: once in the Northern Hemisphere (in December) and once in the Southern Hemisphere (in June). It marks the start of each hemisphere’s winter season. When one hemisphere is experiencing its winter solstice, the other is simultaneously experiencing its summer solstice! This is all thanks to Earth’s tilted axis, which means that at the solstices, half of Earth is pointed away from the Sun, and the other half is pointed towards it.

On the day of the winter solstice, we are tilted as far away from the Sun as possible, which means that the Sun’s path across the sky is as low in the sky as it can be. Think about the daily path of the Sun: It rises in the east and sets in the west, arcing across the sky overhead. During the summer, the Sun arcs high in the sky, but during the winter, it arcs lower, closer to the horizon.

We often think of the winter solstice as an event that spans an entire calendar day, but the solstice actually lasts only a moment. Specifically, it’s the exact moment when a hemisphere is tilted as far away from the Sun as possible. This is shown in the diagram above.

Cultures around the world have celebrated the solstice since ancient times. From the Roman feast of Saturnalia to the pre-Christian festival of Norse jól or Juul observed in Scandinavia, our ancestors honored the first day of winter in many ways.

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