In the Northern hemisphere, the shortest day and longest night of the year falls on December 21. Solstice means "standing-still-sun." Winter solstice occurs when, because of the earth's tilt, our hemisphere is leaning farthest away from the sun; therefore, the daylight is the shortest and the sun has its lowest arc in the sky. Since ancient times people have kept track of the length of days so they could understand where they were in the year. On the shortest day they knew that winter was halfway over. Understanding the time of year was very important to ancient farmers, just as it is to farmers today. Seeds needed to be planted at the right time. Crops from seed sown too early would be destroyed by bad weather. Crops planted too late would not have time to mature for harvest. Today farmers have very sophisticated tools for tracking length of days, soil temperature and moisture, rainfall and many other factors to help determine exactly the best time to plant, fertilize, etc. Solstice Activities
From: Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom |
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