Winter Solstice Countdown

The winter solstice in late December is the shortest day and longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere — and the moment the days start growing longer again. This countdown targets the next one.

How many days until Winter Solstice?

Winter Solstice is on Monday, December 21, 2026, which is 143 days away. The live countdown above ticks down to the exact moment, to the second.

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Winter Solstice's story so far

c. 3200 BCEIreland's Newgrange passage tomb was built more than a thousand years before Stonehenge and before the Great Pyramids of Giza, its stone roof-box engineered so a narrow beam of winter solstice sunrise lights the inner chamber for about 17 minutes.

Present dayBecause only a handful of people can fit inside Newgrange's chamber, Ireland's heritage service grants solstice-morning access through an annual public lottery, drawing tens of thousands of entries for a few dozen spots.

1st century BCEAncient Rome's Saturnalia was a week-long festival of feasting, gift-giving, and social role-reversal held in the days leading up to the solstice; its timing and customs later blended into the Christian Christmas season.

TraditionalAcross China, Korea, and Japan, the Dongzhi Festival honors the solstice with family reunions and symbolic foods — tangyuan rice balls in southern China, dumplings in the north, red-bean porridge in Korea.

Norse/GermanicGermanic and Norse peoples marked Yule near the solstice by burning a Yule log to coax back the sun and bringing evergreen boughs indoors for luck; both practices were later folded into Christmas.

The sun stands still

'Solstice' comes from the Latin for 'sun stands still': the sun's daily path stops sinking lower and reverses. Ancient monuments from Stonehenge to Newgrange are aligned to this exact sunrise or sunset — people have been counting down to this day for 5,000 years.

Shortest day, not coldest

The coldest weeks usually come in January — oceans and land keep releasing stored summer heat for weeks after the light bottoms out, a lag that also explains why the year's hottest days come after the June solstice.

Quick facts

The shortest day and longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere
Winter officially begins at the solstice, December 21–22
Stonehenge and Newgrange are aligned to solstice sunlight
Days begin lengthening again immediately after

Learn more

Wikipedia

Winter Solstice — frequently asked questions

When is Winter Solstice?

Winter Solstice is on Monday, December 21, 2026.

How many days until Winter Solstice?

Winter Solstice is on Monday, December 21, 2026, which is 143 days away. The live countdown above ticks down to the exact moment, to the second.

Updated July 2026 · alarm-clock.org

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