It might be five degrees outside and raining incessantly, but believe it or not, we're still in autumn.
This year's winter solstice will occur on Tuesday, December 21, at 3.58pm GMT in the Northern Hemisphere, marking the first official day of winter. The winter solstice, sometimes known as 'midwinter', marks the day when the North Pole is tilted farthest away from the sun, resulting in the shortest day and longest night of the year.
After the solstice, days will gradually get longer, leading up to the summer solstice that usually takes place on around June 21.
Read more: World's best Winter Solstice stargazing locations listed with top spot in Wales
So what's the fuss?
Years ago, the winter solstice played an incredibly important role in monitoring the seasons for farming purposes.
While we're lucky enough today to have a constant influx of vegetables and fruits all year round, our ancestors relied exclusively on seasonally grown or reared foods. Hundreds of years ago, the winter months often brought starvation, and the months of January to April were sometimes known as 'the famine months'.
In the days of yore, at the time of the winter solstice, cattle and other livestock were slaughtered to avoid having to feed them throughout the winter, which meant that meat was particularly abundant. Similarly, beers and wines that had been put to ferment earlier in the year also reached perfection at midwinter.
With wine and meat in rare abundance, many cultures across the world celebrated with a 'last feast' to lift the spirits before the cold, dark months ahead, filling plates and wine goblets to the brim.
In Ancient Rome, the winter solstice festival was referred to as Saturnalia and was held to honor Saturnus, the Roman god of agriculture and harvest. Saturnus was akin to modern Christmas - gifts were given and arguments forgiven, and social rules became so relaxed that even slaves were treated like equals, if only temporarily.
How is it celebrated today?
Traditions vary from culture to culture. In Japan, fragrant yuzu fruits are thrown into hot springs and public baths as a good luck totem; in Scandinavia, fires are lit and girls dress up in white gowns with red sashes in honor of St. Lucia; and in Peru, there's a full blown festival - the Inti Raymi - to celebrate the winter solstice.
In the UK, rituals and celebrations often take place at neolithic sites such as Stonehenge, led by contemporary Druids and archaeologists. This year, you can even watch it online.
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is set up to frame both the winter and summer solstices.
The English Heritage website states: "At the summer solstice, around 21 June, the sun rises behind the Heel Stone and its first rays shine into the heart of Stonehenge. Although the tallest trilithon at the monument is no longer standing, the sun would have set between the narrow gap of these uprights during the winter solstice.
Excavations at Durrington Walls located on the Stonehenge site suggest that people once held huge feasts around the winter solstice.
The website states: "Durrington Walls is a Neolithic settlement situated about two miles away from the monument. Archaeologists think that the people who built and used Stonehenge lived here. Recent excavations revealed huge amounts of discarded pig and cattle bones.
"Archaeologists discovered that these animals were probably killed when they were around nine months old. They would have been born in the spring, so it would seem that these pigs and cattle were slaughtered around the time of the winter solstice. Putting this together with what we know about the alignment of the stones, it's possible that people gathered at Stonehenge at this time of year to take part in feasts, ceremonies and celebrations."
Montol Festival
One of the most lively solstice celebrations in the UK today is Montol Festival, which happens every year in Penzance, Cornwall.
The festival draws upon many of the traditional Cornish midwinter customs and Christmas traditions formerly practised in and around the Penzance area.
Bryn Celli Du
For Pagans, Druids and others alike, Bryn Celli Du ('Mound in the Dark Grove') is the most important neolithic monuments in Wales. Bryn Celli Du was initially thought to be a single passage tomb, but recent research has revealed the tomb has an entire complex of cairns around the site that developed over time.
The monument is a hugely complex 5,000-year-old burial chamber, and on the summer solstice - the longest day of the year - a ray of sunshine shoots down its main passage and lights up the entire chamber. The pillar and stone edge of the monument are also positioned to measure the Venus cycle and the winter solstice.
The Angelsey Druid Order (Urdd Derwyddon Môn), a group that celebrates the culture, literature, arts and indigenous Celtic spiritualism, recently held a midwinter festival at Bryn Celli Ddu that attracted over 100 visitors and more than 6000 online viewers.
A spokesperson for the Order said: "Throughout human history, in many cultures the Winter Solstice has been celebrated as the darkest, coldest part of the year; communities gathered to feast, to celebrate family and friendship, to warm themselves by the fire and to take part in ritual to mark and celebrate the turning point when the days will begin to get a little longer again.
"On Anglesey we are very fortunate to have a 5,000 year old monument which is aligned to the rising of the summer solstice sunrise and the setting of the sun at Winter solstice; celebrating at Bryn Celli Ddu helps us to feel a connection to our ancestors that once gathered there for a similar purpose. Covid has had quite an impact on our celebrations; last year we were in lockdown and had to hold an online-only ritual.
Reflecting on the recent ritual, they added: "It was a joy to be there in person again this year and to see that over 100 people joined us in person. In some ways the impact of Covid has been oddly positive, in that we realised how many people all over the world enjoy the opportunity to celebrate with us. We live streamed this years ritual and several thousand people all over the world have enjoyed watching it."
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