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  • BBC Science Focus Magazine

    HERE COMES THE SUN

    Dec 01, 2021 4 minutes
    WORDS: HAYLEY BENNETT
    by
    HAYLEY BENNETT

    A NEW DAWN

    WILLKAKUTI CELEBRATION, BOLIVIA

    Roman pagans celebrated the shortest, darkest day, or winter solstice, on 25 December, welcoming the longer daylight hours ahead. This is probably why we celebrate Christmas on this date; not because it was Jesus’ birthday. As astronomy presenter Colin Stuart explains: “Before temples made way for telescopes, many civilisations saw the Sun as a god. On the winter solstice… they figured that the deity was furthest from the Earth and so did all they could to beckon it back again to warm and sustain them for the year ahead.” We now know the astronomical reason for the solstice: the Earth is tilted on its axis. On 21

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