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You probably know that the winter solstice, which falls on Sunday, 21 December in 2025 , is the shortest day of the year.

It marks the start of winter in the astronomical calendar, though the meteorological calendar always says winter starts on 1 December.

That discrepancy exists because the meteorological calendar, which has 365 days in a year, doesn’t quite map onto the astronomical calendar (365.2422 days a year). It’s also why the winter solstice doesn’t always fall on the same date.

But to be completely honest, I thought until recently that the term only referred to the duration of light on that day.

As it turns out, though, solstice is a distinct astronomical event, which The Met Office said “is a very specific moment which is over almost as soon

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