Has the shortest day of the year ever fell on Christmas Day?

Question

Today is the first full day of winter. I wonder if it ever falls on Christmas?

Answer 1

No because the shortest day always falls on Dec. 21 and Christmas is always on the 25th.

Answer 2

This is actually a good question because the two dates are historically related. December 25th was chosen for Christmas because it came during the Roman festival of Saturnalia, so the early Christians could party with the majority without being conspicuous.

The winter sol-stice (sun-still in Latin) occurs on either Dec. 21st or 22nd because the earth's orbit is elliptical so its speed varies with the time of year, and also because there are always two calendar dates chasing each other around the planet at any one time. For years I wondered why the solstice date wasn't chosen instead of 3 days later, and the most plausible explanation was that it took 3 days for anyone to notice that the days were finally getting longer again and it was okay to start celebrating.

If you ask me the year should start on the winter solstice (summer in the southern hemisphere) to really be in step with the seasons. What is now Dec. 21st would be the last day of the year and Dec. 22nd would be the first day of the new year, or Jan. 1st.

This would make each quarter coincide with a season, although not exactly since the length of seasons are not the same. Winter lasts for 88.99 days, spring is 92.76, summer is 93.65 and autumn is 89.84 days long. The calendar would be more symmetric if each quarter were given exactly 13 weeks (91 days) with one extra day at the end of the year and two on leap years. If these extra days were inserted between week days every calendar year would be the same.

And sorry to sound like your teacher, but correct English is "Has the shortest day ever fallen..."

Answer 3

The answer is yes and let me explain why - the answers that just about every other person is right in that it doesn't happen and in hasn't happen in a very long time. However, at one time a long, long, time ago - the answer to your question is yes Christmas Day was the shortest day (in day light hours) on the earth in the western hemisphere. What has happened over time is that the earth has change gradually over the last few thousand years when the winter solstice has changed. However, the last time that the day that we celebrate as Christmas Day (December 25th) was the winter solstice would have been many thousand years prior to the practice of the Christmas holiday. So Christmas has never been the shortest day.

Good Luck!!!

Answer 4

I don't think it ever falls on Christmas. If Christmas were like Easter where it's the second sunday in April or whatever (you can tell we only celebrated the easter bunny, LoL) then maybe it would have, but since the solstice is on the 21st and Christmas is on the 25th, then no.

The idea of Christmas comes from the early Roman Catholic church:

"The early church did not believe that Christ was born on December 25th, but the preference for that date slowly evolved in the Western church. Saint Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage (c. 248 A.D.), said, "Oh how wonderfully acted providence that on the day the sun was born, Christ was born." Cyprian's poetic phrase "the day the sun was born" seems to have been a metaphorical reference to the lengthening of days after December 21st, the shortest day of the year."

Answer 5

The winter solstice did fall on Dec. 25 (give or take a day) at the time of Julius Caesar, but because the Julian calendar was not very accurate (its way of handling leap years didn't average out correctly to the actual length of the solar year), the date of the solstice had drifted backward to around Dec. 11 by the sixteenth century, when Pope Gregory XIII introduced a new calendar with a more accurate leap-year rule, and he also reset the calendar by ten days to bring the vernal equinox to (approximately) March 21, as that was necessary to make Easter come out right (Easter being the first Sunday on or after the first full moon of spring), and in that new (Gregorian) calendar, which we still use, the winter solstice falls on Dec. 21 -- again, give or take a day, based on what time zone you're in, plus the oscillation during four-year leap year cycle.

Answer 6

No, this will never happen because the shortest day of the year, the first day of winter, is on December 21 (and it's the same every year). Christmas Day is always on December 25, it never changes.

Answer 7

No. Winter solstice happens between 20 & 22 December, depending on the year, which is the shortest day of each year.

Answer 8

Nope Christmas is on the 25th and the shortest day is almost always on the 21st but sometimes it is on the 22nd.

Answer 9

If the Solstice is always on the 21st then why is it on the 22nd this year? Duh.

Sorry to answer YOUR question, no the Solstice can not fall on Christmas. The Solstice is usually on the 20 or the 21st and rarely, as this year, on the 22nd. It DOES fall mostly on the 21st, but it changes often enough to not become a habit. :)O

Answer 10

The truth is that the shortest day of the year is always on December 22 becaus that is when the sun is out the shortest and the angle of the sun is shorter.

Hope this helps!