--- title: Google Doodle Celebrates the Winter Solstice description: For those living in the Northern Hemisphere, Dec. 21 marks the beginning of the longest night of the year — and, of course, the shortest day canonical: https://time.com/5486528/google-doodle-winter-solstice/ author: Supriya Batra article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-12-21T10:04:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:56:35.534Z og:title: Google Doodle Celebrates the Winter Solstice og:description: It's that time again og:url: https://time.com/5486528/google-doodle-winter-solstice/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc67f25ff10b2f697/69894224bc6cfc35993e7cc1/winter-solstice-2018-northern-hemisphere-5609689915064320-2xa.gif?branch=production&width=711&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 711 og:image:height: 400 og:image:alt: winter-solstice-2018-northern-hemisphere-5609689915064320-2xa og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Google Doodle Celebrates the Winter Solstice twitter:description: It's that time again twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc67f25ff10b2f697/69894224bc6cfc35993e7cc1/winter-solstice-2018-northern-hemisphere-5609689915064320-2xa.gif?branch=production&width=711&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Google Celebrates the Shortest Day of the Year With a Winter Solstice Doodle > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=a6398b7b-680d-41fa-91ad-619df83722ef&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Supriya Batra](https://time.com/author/supriya-batra/) ## Supriya Batra Dec 21, 2018 10:04 AM UTC  Google by [Supriya Batra](https://time.com/author/supriya-batra/) ## Supriya Batra Dec 21, 2018 10:04 AM UTC For those living in the Northern Hemisphere, Dec. 21 marks the beginning of the longest night of the year — and, of course, the shortest day. The date and time of Winter Solstice, featured in a special [Google Doodle](https://www.google.com/doodles/winter-solstice-2018-observed-northern-hemisphere) Friday, vary by the year, though it typically falls between Dec. 19 and 22. ## **What is the Winter Solstice?** Winter Solstice is an astronomical phenomenon that occurs when the Earth’s axial tilt is farthest away from the sun. It derives its name from the Latin word “solstitium,” which means “Sun standing still.” The word describes how the sun appears on the earth’s horizon to observers. It marks the transition period at which days begin getting longer in the Northern Hemisphere and shorter in the Southern Hemisphere, and ushers in the Winter season. ## **What’s special about this year?** This year’s Winter Solstice will [coincide with a Full Cold Moon](https://www.space.com/42673-december-full-moon.html) — the full moon of December, according to Space.com. The moon is set to become officially full on Dec. 22 at 12:49 p.m. EST. According to Space.com, the last time a full moon coincided with the solstice was in 2010, and it is not expected to happen again until 2094. ## **How is the Winter Solstice observed throughout the world?** The winter solstice is marked with ceremonies and celebrations across the globe. In Ireland, people convene at a 5,000-year-old gravesite called Newgrange, where they wait for a chance to see the sunrise lighting up the tomb. At Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England, people similarly come together to watch the sun being cast over the famous prehistoric monument. China marks the start of winter with the _Dongzhi_ festival, during which families come together and enjoy rice balls called _tangyuan_. The treat is said to bring prosperity and unity. Some Scandinavian and Germanic peoples in northern Europe celebrate with Yule, a day of gathering and gift giving. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5486528/google-doodle-winter-solstice/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5486528/google-doodle-winter-solstice/"},"headline":"Google Celebrates the Shortest Day of the Year With a Winter Solstice Doodle","datePublished":"2018-12-21T10:04:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:56:35.534Z","description":"It's that time again","url":"https://time.com/5486528/google-doodle-winter-solstice/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Google Doodle","onetime","overnight","Holidays 2018"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc67f25ff10b2f697/69894224bc6cfc35993e7cc1/winter-solstice-2018-northern-hemisphere-5609689915064320-2xa.gif?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Supriya Batra","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/supriya-batra/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc67f25ff10b2f697/69894224bc6cfc35993e7cc1/winter-solstice-2018-northern-hemisphere-5609689915064320-2xa.gif?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"winter-solstice-2018-northern-hemisphere-5609689915064320-2xa","caption":"","creditText":"Google","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5486528/google-doodle-winter-solstice/","name":"Google Celebrates the Shortest Day of the Year With a Winter Solstice Doodle"}}]}] ```