Halo around the sun, Ore Mountains, Saxony, Germany

© Martin Ruegner/Getty Image

Midwinter wonderland. Happy winter solstice!

The winter solstice is here. Today marks the shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere, while last night was the longest night of the year. This has been an important event for millennia, with evidence of celebrations going back as far as 10,000 BCE. Some of the world's most famous Stone Age monuments, including Stonehenge, are aligned with the point that the sun rises or sets on the winter solstice. Traditionally, it was a time for feasting and lighting of fires to symbolise the darkest day of the year. Ancient Germanic tribes celebrated the winter solstice by bringing evergreens into their homes as a symbol of the returning light and the coming spring.

Today's image takes us to modern-day Germany. Here we can see a halo—an optical phenomenon caused by ice crystals in the atmosphere—around the sun, photographed in the Ore Mountains, Saxony. In many parts of Germany, the winter solstice is celebrated as Thomastag. Traditions on this day include trying to predict the future for the year ahead and getting up early to work. From today, the evenings will start to get shorter, and the days will slowly but surely get lighter. Happy midwinter!