by Megan Stoddard

Created on: December 27, 2009

Most people are aware that a solstice or an equinox is the first day of one of the four seasons. Many know that they come in March, June, September, and December, between the twentieth and the twenty-third of the month, though not necessarily the same date every year.

And, as anyone who knows anything about Paganism will know, the solstices and equinoxes are holidays. They are the cardinal points on the Wheel of the Year, marked by ritual and celebration. In Wicca, they are the four Lesser Sabbats (the Greater Sabbats, Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh, fall about halfway between solstice and equinox).

However, a surprisingly large number of people, including many educated adults (but not Pagans!), confuse solstices and equinoxes. The difference between them is simple.

A solstice (from the Latin for "sun stands still") is the first day of winter or summer. It is the time when the earth, in its orbital wobbles, tilts either the north pole or the south pole closest to the sun. A detailed calendar is likely to not only mark the summer or winter solstice, but also give an hour and minute for the solstice. That moment is when the sun reaches its farthest possible northern or southern point. It appears to stand still in the sky for several days before beginning to move back in the other direction.

The June solstice, when the sun is in the north, is summer in the northern hemisphere, winter in the southern. The December solstice, when the sun is in the south, is winter in the northern hemisphere, summer in the southern. On the summer solstice, daylight hours last the longest they will all year, and night the shortest. On the winter solstice, the night is the longest and the day the shortest.

In polar regions, the sun never sets at all on or around the summer solstice, and never rises on or around the winter solstice. In the tropics, hours of daylight and darkness do not vary much through the year, but the solstices mark the greatest variation the region ever sees. Right on the equator, there is no variation.

In the weeks leading up to a solstice, nights and days get noticeably longer or shorter, unless you are in the tropics. After the solstice, the reverse begins to happen. The first day of winter is the beginning of the sun's return. The first day of summer is the beginning of the sun's departure. For Pagans, this is religiously significant. It marks a major turning point of the Wheel of the Year, which underlies all ritual and practice.

An equinox (Latin

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