Winter Solstice 2014: What You Need To Know

The very first day of the winter season, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, happens this year on December 21. This event, also known as the winter solstice, is known to have the longest night and the shortest day of the year. However, this year's winter solstice won't be the longest night night in Earth's history. So far, that distinction belongs to the one that happened in 1912, as clarified by Vox.

So, what is it about the winter solstice should you be concerned about? The good thing about its arrival is that the days will start becoming longer from that day forward.

"If you're not a fan of winter, from each day on after the solstice, the days will get longer and warmer until the calendar hits summer solstice, June 21, 2015. Summer solstice marks the first day of summer, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere," Time said.

As such, it can be said that the winter solstice tells us that summer is a-coming, which is a thought and fact worth holding on to, especially on days when this season's chill - which can occur in mid-January, as noted by The Washington Post - seeps into your bones.

During the winter, the days are short "because Earth doesn't orbit upright, but is instead tilted on its axis by 23-and-a-half degrees," EarthSky explained. "Earth's Northern and Southern Hemispheres trade places in receiving the sun's light and warmth most directly. The tilt of the Earth - not our distance from the sun - is what causes winter and summer. At the December solstice, the Northern Hemisphere is leaning most away from the sun for the year."

It should also be noted that the winter solstice is experienced by everyone on Earth at the same time.

"In 2014, the December solstice comes on December 21 at 5:03 p.m. CST. That's 23:03 Universal Time," the site went on to say. "Just remember: you're translating from 23:03 UT on December 21. So for most of the world's eastern hemisphere - Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand - the December solstice actually comes on December 22."

The New York Times' Clark Strand, in an op-ed piece, touched on the reasons why this winter solstice is actually necessary. The advent of efficient, affordable lighting options had "extended the range of waking human consciousness, effectively adding more hours onto the day - for work, for entertainment, for discovery, for consumption; for every activity except sleep, that nightly act of renunciation."

As such, a rest from all this activity - something that night/darkness affords - is necessary.

"We need a rest from ourselves that only a night like the winter solstice can give us. And the earth, too, needs that rest. The only thing I can hope for is that, if we won't come to our senses and search for the darkness, on nights like these, the darkness will come looking for us," the piece concluded.