Dong Zhi, or the Winter Solstice Festival, was celebrated by the Chinese of ancient times. It was commemorated in much the same way Chinese Lunar New Year is now - with visits to friends and relatives. There is customary feasting and businesses will close up for the day. During this time, people will assemble to eat "tang yuan" (glutinous flour balls) symbolizing a united family and togetherness.

But what is the winter solstice, exactly?

A solstice is an astronomical term used to describe the day of the year when the sun is the greatest distance from our equator. There are two solstices, therefore, one in the summer and one in the winter each causing either the longest or shortest day of the year. The times of these vary, however, depending on which hemisphere you are discussing.

A solstice is created when the earth tilts away from the sun for a particular hemisphere. While the earth is orbiting around the sun, it is also spinning on its axis. This tilting results in one hemisphere being nearer to the sun, causing the summer while the adjacent hemisphere is further away, causing the winter.

The word "solstice" finds its roots in the Latin term, "solstitium." They created the term solstitium from sol which translates as the sun and stitium which translates as stop. The sun seems to do this during the solstice. It reaches nearly the exact elevation daily at 12:00 pm for a few days before and following the solstice.

December 21st or 22nd are the choice of days that the winter solstices happen and the sun beams right over the tropic of Capricorn. In the southern hemisphere, winter solstice is celebrated on June 20th or 21st. This is the time when the sun is located just above the tropic of Cancer.

The winter solstice is also known as the shortest day, because it marks the year's shortest period of daylight and longest period of darkness. This is considered to be the midpoint of winter by many culture's calendars. It is actually quite surprising that, in three thousand years, the date of the solstice has only shifted by one day.

Due to the fact that the sun seemed to be reborn as the days grew longer, a lot of ancient cultures naturally celebrated this time of rebirth as the winter solstice.

This was generally seen as something good when the change happens to eliminate the darkness of evil from the world and light up the world with goodness. At this present time, some people still celebrate light festivals. Similar to the Chinese Dong Zhi festival, the Germans observe Yule and Hindus revel in Diwali, a festival of light.