:: wikimiki.org ::

Winter

Winter

Winter is one of the four seasons of temperate zones. Astronomically, it begins with the winter solstice (around December 21 in the Northern hemisphere and June 21 in the Southern hemisphere), and ends with the spring equinox (around March 21 in the Northern hemisphere and September 23 in the Southern hemisphere). In meteorology, it is by convention counted instead as the whole months of June, July and August in the Southern hemisphere and December, January and February in the Northern hemisphere. However, in the United Kingdom and Ireland the winter solstice is traditionally considered as midwinter, the winter season beginning November 1 on All Hallows or Samhain. Elsewhere, in Chinese astronomy (and other East Asian calenders), winter is taken to commence on or around November 7, with the Jiéqì known as (立冬 lì dōng, i.e. "establishment of winter".

Meteorological aspects

Meteorological winter is the season having the shortest days (which vary greatly according to latitude) and the lowest temperatures. Nighttime predominates the winter season, and in some regions it has the highest rate of precipitation, as well as prolonged dampness due to permanent snow cover in such areas. Measured astronomically, winter begins on the shortest day of the year, and each day of winter has more sunlight than the previous one. During winter, there is much snow and cold, especially in areas that are farther away from the Equator. Blizzards often develop and cause many delays. A rare meteorological phenomenon encountered during winter is ice fog, which is composed of ice crystals suspended in the air and happening only at very low temperatures (at least 10 degrees below zero).

What causes winter

Of course, the Earth rotates around the sun once every year. At the same time, the planet tilts on its axis, and this has an even more dramatic effect on the weather. The popular belief that winter is caused as the Earth moves away from the Sun during the widest part of its orbit, and thus causes winter, is not necessarily true. In actual fact, winter occurs when the sun is at its closest point in the case of the northern hemisphere. The planet tilts 23°27' (23 degrees 27 minutes) and this causes different parts of the Earth's surface to be closer to the sun at various parts of its orbit. It is this variation that brings about the seasons. In winter, the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun and thus experiences colder temperatures. Since the southern hemisphere will be tilted toward the sun at this point, its seasons are always the northern's opposite. During the winter, the light rays coming in from the sun hit the Earth surface at a lower angle. Less energy is transferred to the surface as a result of the glancing nature of these rays. Basically, the same amount of light energy is spread out over a larger area. This effect is compounded by the larger distance this light must travel through the atmosphere, allowing it to absorb more of this already limited heat.

Activities

ice crystal

Snow activities

- Bobsledding - a winter sport in which teams make timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked purpose-built iced tracks in a gravity-powered, steerable sled.
- Skiing - the activity of gliding over snow using what is now fiberglass planks called skis that are strapped to the skiers' feet with ski bindings.
- Sledding - a downhill activity where the user uses a sled to glide down the hill.
- Snowball fight - a physical game in which snowballs are thrown with the intention of hitting somebody else.
- Snowboarding - an increasingly common sport where participants strap a composite board to their feet and slide down a snow-covered mountain.
- Snowshoeing - a means of travel in which one is able to walk on top of the snow by increasing the surface area of their feet.
- Snowman building - creating a man-like model out of snow

Ice activities

- Ice Skating - a means of traveling on ice with skates, narrow (and sometimes parabolic) blade-like devices moulded into special boots (or, more primitively, without boots, tied to regular footwear).
- Ice boating - a means of travel in a specialized boat similar in appearance to a sailboat but fitted with skis or runners (skates) and designed to run over ice instead of (liquid) water.
- Ice fishing - the sport of catching fish with lines and hooks through an opening in the ice on a frozen body of water.
- Ice diving - a type of penetration diving where the dive takes place under ice.
- Ice Sculpture - elaborate sculptures are carved out of blocks of ice.

Ecology

Ice Sculpture

Animals

To survive the harshness of winter, many animals have developed different behavioral and morphological adaptations:
- Migration is a common effect of winter upon animals, affecting basically birds. However some birds, i.e. the cardinal do not migrate.
- Hibernation is a state of reduced metabolic activity during the winter. These animals "sleep" during winter and only come out as warm weather returns. For example, gophers, bears, frogs, snakes or bats hibernate.
- Some animals store food for the winter and live upon it instead of hibernating completely. This is the case of squirrels, beavers, skunks, badgers and raccoons.
- Resistance is observed when an animal endures winter, but changes in ways such as color and musculature. The color of the fur or plumage are changed to white in order to be confused with snow and thus, to retain their cryptic coloration year round. Examples are the ptarmigan, the arctic fox, the weasel, the white-tailed jack rabbit or the mountain hare.
- Some fur-coated mammals grow a heavier fur coat during the winter. This improves the heat-retention qualities of the fur. The coat is then shed following the winter season to allow better cooling. The heavier winter coat made this season a favorite for trappers who sought more profitable skins.
- Snow also affects the ways animals behave, as many take advantage of the insulating properties of snow by burrowing in it. Mice and voles typically live under the snow layer.

Plants

Annual plants never survive the winter. As for perennial plants, many small ones profit from the insulating effects of snow by being buried in it. Larger plants, particularly deciduous trees, usually let their upper part die, but their roots are still protected by the snow layer.

Psychology

deciduous trees Passing seasons change the habits and moods of people. Around winter months, a gloominess, called "winter blues" or "February blahs" or "Holiday depression"-- during November and December in the northern hemisphere-- is informally noted amongst people. The severest cases of this type of depression is diagnosed as seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Symptoms include sleeping more, tiredness, depression, and physical aches. Although causes include genetic disposition and stress, the prevailing environmental influence is decreased exposure to light due to winter weather patterns.

The symbolism of winter

Winter is highly symbolic of many things to many people and has been used to represent various things by artists in all media. Some use winter to suggest death, as in Robert Frost's "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening." Some use it to suggest the absence of hope, as in C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, where it was always winter but never Christmas. Winter is one movement in Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons;" and there are many examples of four paintings, all showing the same scene in different seasons. Ursula K. LeGuin's novel The Left Hand of Darkness is set on a planet named Winter. In Alex Raymond's comic strip, Flash Gordon there is a land called Frigia, where it is always winter. The land of Frigia is also featured in the serial Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe. Other uses of winter in the graphic arts occur in Winsor McCay's Little Nemo in Slumberland. There are many films where a winter setting plays an important role, Fargo for example. In addition to this, novels such as Ethan Frome also use a winter setting to mirror the bleak, frozen feelings that the characters harbor.

Mythological explanations of winter

In Greek mythology, Hades kidnapped Persephone to be his wife. Zeus ordered Hades to return her to Demeter, the goddess of the earth and her mother. However, Hades tricked Persephone into eating the food of the dead so Zeus decreeded Persephone would spend six months with Demeter and six months with Hades. During the time when her daughter is with Hades, Demeter becomes depressed and causes winter.

Exceptional winters

- Russian Winters of 1812/13 and 1941/42
- The Winter of Discontent is the name for the British winter of 1978-79, during which there were widespread strikes. Lorry drivers, train drivers, nurses, most public sector employees, refuse collectors, and workers at Ford Motors all went on strike. Most notorious however was an unofficial strike by gravediggers.

References

- Rosenthal, Norman E. (1998). Winter Blues. New York: The Guilford Press. ISBN 1572303956

External links

- [http://www.oulu.fi/northnature/english/englanti/ajankohttalvi.html "Winter of animals and plants in Finland"] by Northern Nature Project
- [http://www.thursdaysclassroom.com/23sep99/story5.html Native American seasons myth from the Zion Natural History Association] Category:Seasons ja:冬 simple:Winter

Season

A season is one of the major divisions of the year, generally based on yearly periodic changes in weather. year In temperate and polar regions generally four seasons are recognised: spring, summer, autumn (fall), and winter. In some tropical and subtropical regions it is more common to speak of the rainy (or wet, or monsoon) season versus the dry season, as the amount of precipitation may vary more dramatically than the average temperature. In other tropical areas a three-way division into hot, rainy and cool season is used. In some parts of the world, special "seasons" are loosely defined based upon natural events such as a hurricane season, tornado season, or wildfire season.

Causes and climatic effects

climatic will be dark, and the South Pole will be illuminated; see also arctic winter. In addition to the density of incident light, the dissipation of light in the atmosphere is greater when it falls at a shallow angle]] The ultimate cause of the seasons is the fact that the Earth's axis is not perpendicular to its orbital plane; it deviates by an angle of approximately 23.5 degrees of arc. Thus, at any given time during the summer or winter, one part of the planet is more directly exposed to the rays of the Sun (see Fig. 1). This exposure alternates as the Earth revolves in its orbit. At any given time, regardless of season, the northern and southern hemispheres experience opposite seasons (see Fig. 2 and Month ranges of seasons (below)). Seasonal weather fluctuations also depend on factors such as proximity to oceans or other large bodies of water, currents in those oceans, El Niño/ENSO and other oceanic cycles, and prevailing winds. In the temperate and polar regions, seasons are marked by changes in the amount of sunlight, which in turn often cause cycles of dormancy in plants and hibernation in animals. These effects vary with latitude, and with proximity to bodies of water. For example, the South Pole is in the middle of the continent of Antarctica, and therefore a considerable distance from the moderating influence of the southern oceans. The North Pole is in the Arctic Ocean, and thus its temperature extremes are buffered by the presence of all that water. The result is that the South Pole is consistently colder during the southern winter than the North Pole during the northern winter. animal The cycle of seasons in the polar and temperate zones of one hemisphere is opposite to that in the other. When it is summer in the Northern hemisphere, it is winter in the Southern hemisphere, and vice versa, and when it is spring in the Northern hemisphere it is autumn in the Southern hemisphere, and vice versa. In the tropics, there is no noticeable change in the amount of sunlight. However, many regions (famously the northern Indian Ocean) are subject to monsoon rain and wind cycles. Curiously, a study of temperature records over the past 300 years (David Thompson, Science, April 1995) shows that the climatic seasons, and thus the seasonal year, are governed by the anomalistic year rather than the tropical year.

Polar day and night

tropical year A common misconception is that, within the Arctic and Antarctic Circles, the sun rises once in the spring and sets once in the fall; thus, the day and night are erroneously thought to last uninterrupted for 183 calendar days each. This is true only in the immediate region of the poles themselves. What does happen is that any point north of the Arctic (or south of the Antarctic) Circle will have one period in the summer when the sun does not set, and one period in the winter when the sun does not rise. At progressively higher latitudes, the periods of "midnight sun" (or "midday dark" for the other side of the globe) are progressively longer. For example, at the military and weather station called Alert on the northern tip of Ellesmere Island, Canada (about 450 nautical miles or 830 km from the North Pole), the sun begins to peek above the horizon in mid-February and each day it climbs a bit higher, and stays up a bit longer; by 21 March, the sun is up for 12 hours. However, mid-February is not first light. The sky (as seen from Alert) has been showing twilight, or at least a pre-dawn glow on the horizon, for increasing hours each day, for more than a month before that first sliver of sun appears. In the weeks surrounding 21 June, the sun is at its highest, and it appears to circle the sky without ever going below the horizon. Eventually, it does go below the horizon, for progressively longer and longer periods each day until, around the middle of October, it disappears for the last time. For a few more weeks, "day" is marked by decreasing periods of twilight. Eventually, for the weeks surrounding 21 December, nothing breaks the darkness. In later winter, the first faint wash of light briefly touches the horizon (for just minutes per day), and then increases in duration and pre-dawn brightness each day until sunrise in February.

Reckoning

21 December 21 December.]] The date at which each season begins depends on how it is defined. In the United States, the seasons are often considered to begin at the astronomical solstices and equinoxes: these are sometimes known as the "astronomical seasons". By this reckoning, summer begins at summer solstice, winter at winter solstice, spring at the vernal equinox and autumn at the autumnal equinox. In the United Kingdom, the seasons are traditionally considered to begin about seven weeks earlier: spring begins on Candlemas, summer on May Day, autumn on Lammas, and winter on All Hallows. The Irish calendar uses almost the same reckoning; Spring begins on February 1 / Imbolc, Summer on May 1 / Beltane, Autumn on August 1 / Lughnasadh and Winter on November 1 / Samhain. In meteorology for the Northern hemisphere, spring begins by convention on March 1, summer on June 1, autumn on September 1 and winter on December 1. This definition is also followed in Denmark and former USSR. Conversely, for the Southern hemisphere, meterological summer begins on December 1, autumn on March 1, winter on June 1 and spring on September 1. This definition is also followed in Australia. The Korean, Chinese, and Japanese calendars are based on a lunisolar calendar, where the solstices and equinoxes mark the middle of each season. This is very close to the meteorological definition of seasons.

Mid-season

In the conventional American calendar, the following dates are considered to be halfway through a season:
- Winter (February 3)
- Spring (May 5 or May 6)
- Summer (August 7)
- Fall (November 6)

External links

- [http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/badseasons.html The seasons begin at the time of the solstice or equinox] (from the Bad Astronomer)
- [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_170b.html Solstice does not signal season's start?] (from The Straight Dope) Category:Calendars Category:Meteorology Category:Seasons Category:Units of time Category:Weather ko:계절 ja:季節 simple:Season

Winter solstice

on the day of the northern winter solstice]] In astronomy, the winter solstice is the moment when the earth is at a point in its orbit where one hemisphere is most inclined away from the sun. This causes the sun to appear at its farthest below the celestial equator when viewed from the northern hemisphere . Solstice is a Latin borrowing and means "sun stand", referring to the appearance that the sun's noontime elevation change stops its progress, either northerly or southerly. The day of the winter solstice is the shortest day and the longest night of the year. In the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice usually falls on December 21/December 22, which is the southern hemisphere's summer solstice. At this time, the sun appears over the Tropic of Capricorn, roughly 23.5 degrees South of the earth's equator. In the southern hemisphere, winter solstice falls on June 21/June 22, which is the northern hemisphere's summer solstice. At this time, the sun appears over the Tropic of Cancer. Since the winter solstice, summer solstice, vernal equinox, and autumnal equinox were probably observed for the first time by people in the northern hemisphere, these naming conventions originally corresponded to the northern hemisphere's seasons. In most reckonings, the winter solstice is midwinter. In Ireland's calendar, the solstices and equinoxes all occur at about midpoint in each season. For example, winter begins on November 1, and ends on January 31. The passage and chamber of Newgrange, a tomb in Ireland, are illuminated by the winter solstice sunrise. A shaft of sunlight shines through the roof box over the entrance and penetrates the passage to light up the chamber. The dramatic event lasts for 17 minutes at dawn from the 19th to the 23rd of December. The winter solstice is the time when the Germanic festival of Yule was celebrated; it is celebrated today as a Neopagan Sabbat. Many cultures celebrate or celebrated a holiday near (within a few days) the winter solstice; examples of these include Yalda, Saturnalia, Christmas, Karachun, Hanukkah, Festivus, Kwanzaa, and HumanLight. In her fiction, Ursula K. Le Guin calls the solstice celebration "The Festival of Sunreturn". (See also List of winter festivals). The first civilization to celebrate the winter solstice were the Ancient Persians, deriving from their Zorastorian religion. Refer to Yalda

Dongzhi in Chinese calendar

Dongzhi (冬至) is a solar term begins when Sun lies between the celestial longitude of 270° and 285°. It sometimes refers in particular to the day when the Sun is exactly at the celestial longitude of 270°. It usually begins around December 22, and ends around January 6. In the Chinese calendar, the winter solstice is called dōng zhì (冬至, "winter's extreme") and is traditionally regarded as one of the year's most important solar terms, comparable to Chinese New Year. Rather confusingly, the character zhi; may also mean "arrival" in other contexts, but it is clear that the Chinese consider "winter's arrival" (lidong, literally "establishment of winter") to be a separate solar term which falls on or around November 7 instead.

External links

- [http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/badseasons.html The seasons begin at the time of the solstice or equinox] (from the Bad Astronomer)
- [http://landscaping.about.com/cs/winterlandscaping1/a/holly_trees.htm Winter Solstice] (in Celtic mythology)
- [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_170b.html Solstice does not signal season's start?] (from The Straight Dope)
- [http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/almanac/seasondate.htm Solstice Dates and Times] Dongzhi Category:Spherical astronomy Category:Celestial mechanics Category:Winter holidays ko:동지 ja:冬至 th:เหมายัน

December 21

December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 10 days remaining.

Events

- 69 - Vespasian becomes the fourth Roman Emperor in the Year of the four emperors
- 1620 - The Pilgrims land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock
- 1780 - Great Britain declares war on The Netherlands in response to the Dutch joining the League of Armed Neutrality and for assisting French and American forces during the American Revolution
- 1861 - The Medal of Honor first authorized
- 1861 - Lord Lyons, the British minister to the United States, meets with United States Secretary of State William Seward concerning Confederate envoys arrested by the United States Navy in order to prevent war between the United States and the United Kingdom.
- 1872 - HMS Challenger sails from Portsmouth on the four-year scientific expedition that would lay the foundation for the science of oceanography
- 1880 - Isle of Man becomes first political entity that allows women to vote
- 1891 - First basketball game played
- 1898 - Marie and Pierre Curie discover radium
- 1913 - First crossword puzzle published
- 1914 - First feature-length silent film comedy, Tillie's Punctured Romance, starring Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand and Charles Chaplin, is released
- 1919 - Municipal elections held in Senegal (First round, second round is held December 28). The multi-racial list of the Independent Socialist Republican Party (PRSI) wins in all four municipalities
- 1923 - Nepal changes from British protectorate to independent state
- 1933 - Newfoundland becomes a crown colony
- 1937 - First screening of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first feature-length animated movie
- 1958 - Charles de Gaulle is elected as the first President of France and establishes the Fifth Republic
- 1962 - Rondane National Park, the first national park in Norway, was established
- 1968 - Apollo 8 launched
- 1979 - The United States government bails out the Chrysler Corporation
- 1979 - The Lancaster House Agreement was signed, effectively ending the white rule in Rhodesia under Ian Smith
- 1983 - Former U.S. President Gerald Ford guest-stars as himself on the prime-time soap opera Dynasty
- 1987 - The passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker Vector 1; well over 1,000 die
- 1988 - A terrorist bomb explodes and crashes Pan Am flight 103, a Boeing 747, over Lockerbie, Scotland killing 270, including eleven on the ground
- 1999 - The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts a van loaded with 950 kg of explosives intended by ETA to blow down Torre Picasso
- 2001 - Japanese television performer Masashi Tashiro got No. 1 temporarily in the Internet vote of Time's Person of the Year
- 2001 - President Fernando de la Rúa of Argentina was forced out of office in the midst of the December 2001 riots and financial crisis
- 2002 - Vancouver, British Columbia city council declares "D.O.A. Day" in observance of the Canadian punk band D.O.A.'s decades of influence and accomplishments
- 2012 - The Long Count of the Maya calendar recycles according to the most popular correlation. A minority argues that it does so on December 23, 2012

Births

- 1118 - Thomas Becket, Lord Chancellor of England and Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1170)
- 1401 - Tommaso Masaccio, Italian painter (d. 1428)
- 1596 - Peter Mogila, Orthodox Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia (d. 1646)
- 1603 - Roger Williams, English theologian and colonist (d. 1684)
- 1714 - John Bradstreet, Canadian-born soldier (d. 1774)
- 1804 - Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1881)
- 1811 - Archibald Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1882)
- 1815 - Thomas Couture French painter and teacher (d. 1879)
- 1843 - Thomas Bracken, New Zealand writer (d. 1898)
- 1850 - Zdeněk Fibich, Czech composer (d. 1900)
- 1859 - Gustave Kahn, French poet (d. 1936)
- 1872 - Don Lorenzo Perosi, Italian composer (d. 1956)
- 1872 - Albert Payson Terhune, American author (d. 1942)
- 1876 - Jack Lang, Australian politician (d. 1975)
- 1878 - Jan Łukasiewicz, Polish philosopher and mathematician (d. 1956)
- 1879 - Joseph Stalin, Leader of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1953 (d. 1953)
- 1889 - Sewall Wright, American biologist (d. 1988)
- 1890 - Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1967)
- 1892 - Walter Hagen, American golfer (d. 1969)
- 1892 - Rebecca West, American writer (d. 1983)
- 1896 - Leroy Robertson, American composer (d. 1971)
- 1914 - Ivan Generalić, Croatian painter (d. 1992)
- 1917 - Heinrich Böll, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
- 1918 - Donald Regan, Chief of Staff and U.S. Treasury Secretary (d. 2003)
- 1918 - Kurt Waldheim, United Nations Secretary-General
- 1921 - Vampira, Finnish actress
- 1922 - Paul Winchell, American ventriloquist (d. 2005)
- 1926 - Joe Paterno, American football coach
- 1935 - John G. Avildsen, American film director and editor
- 1935 - Yusuf Bey, Black Muslim leader
- 1935 - Phil Donahue, American talk show host
- 1937 - Jane Fonda, American actress and activist
- 1940 - Frank Zappa, American musician (d. 1993)
- 1942 - Hu Jintao, President of the People's Republic of China
- 1942 - Reinhard Mey, German singer
- 1942 - Carla Thomas, American singer
- 1944 - Michael Tilson Thomas, American conductor
- 1946 - Carl Wilson, American musician (The Beach Boys) (d. 1998)
- 1947 - Paco de Lucía, Spanish guitarist
- 1948 - Samuel L. Jackson, American actor
- 1948 - Willi Resetarits, Austrian musician and cabaret artist
- 1950 - Jeffrey Katzenberg, American producer
- 1954 - Chris Evert, American tennis player
- 1955 - Jane Kaczmarek, American actress
- 1957 - Tom Henke, baseball player
- 1957 - Ray Romano, American comedian and actor
- 1959 - Florence Griffith Joyner, American runner (d. 1998)
- 1961 - Francis Ng, Hong Kong actor
- 1965 - Andy Dick, American actor and comedian
- 1965 - Anke Engelke, German comedienne
- 1966 - Kiefer Sutherland, Canadian actor
- 1967 - Mikhail Saakashvili, President of Georgia
- 1969 - Julie Delpy, French actress
- 1973 - Karmen Stavec, Slovenian singer
- 1974 - Karrie Webb, Australian golfer
- 1978 - Mike Vitar, American actor
- 1984 - Darren Potter, Irish footballer

Deaths

- 1295 - Marguerite Berenger of Provence, queen of Louis IX of France
- 1308 - Henry I of Hesse (b. 1244)
- 1375 - Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian writer (b. 1313)
- 1504 - Bertold von Henneberg-Römhild, German archbishop and elector (b. 1442)
- 1549 - Marguerite of Navarre, queen of Henry II of Navarre (b. 1492)
- 1579 - Vicente Masip, Spanish painter
- 1597 - Petrus Canisius, Dutch Jesuit (b. 1521)
- 1807 - John Newton, English cleric and hymnist (b. 1725)
- 1873 - Francis Garnier, French explorer (b. 1839)
- 1935 - Kurt Tucholsky, German journalist and satirist (b. 1890)
- 1937 - Frank B. Kellogg, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1856)
- 1940 - F. Scott Fitzgerald, American writer (b. 1896)
- 1945 - George S. Patton, U.S. general (b. 1885)
- 1956 - Don Lorenzo Perosi, Italian composer (b. 1872)
- 1957 - Eric Coates, English composer (b. 1886)
- 1958 - Lion Feuchtwanger, German writer (b. 1884)
- 1983 - Paul de Man, Belgian-born literary critic (b. 1919)
- 1988 - Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch ornithologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1907)
- 1992 - Albert King, American musician (b. 1924)
- 1992 - Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian violinist (b. 1903)
- 2001 - Dick Schaap, American sports journalist (b. 1931)
- 2004 - Autar Singh Paintal, Indian medical scientist (b. 1925)

Holidays and observances

- The summer solstice (Southern Hemisphere) or winter solstice (Northern Hemisphere), sometimes known as Yule, occurs on or very close to this date. It is an important festival in the Chinese calendar.

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/21 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/12/21 Today in History: December 21] ---- December 20 - December 22 - November 21 - January 21 -- listing of all days ko:12월 21일 ms:21 Disember ja:12月21日 simple:December 21 th:21 ธันวาคม

June 21

June 21 is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 193 days remaining. This day usually marks the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere and the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere, and thus is the day of the year with the longest hours of daylight in the northern hemisphere and the shortest in the southern hemisphere.

Events

- 524 - Battle of Vezerone: Burgundy triumphs over the French.
- 1621 - an execution of 27 Czech lords on the Old Town Square in Prague as a consequence of the battle on the "White Mountain".
- 1665 - First soldiers of Le Régiment de Carignan-Salières arrive at Quebec to invade Iroquois territories.
- 1734 - In Montreal in New France (today primarily Quebec), a black slave known by the French name of Marie-Joseph Angélique was tortured and hanged by the French authorities in a public ceremony that involved her disgrace and the amputation of a hand.
- 1749 - Halifax, Nova Scotia, founded.
- 1788 - New Hampshire ratifies the Constitution and is thus admitted as the 9th state in the United States.
- 1798 - Irish Rebellion of 1798: The British Army defeats Irish rebels at Battle of Vinegar Hill
- 1813 - Peninsular War: Battle of Vitoria
- 1813 - Laura Secord sets out to warn British forces of an impending U.S. attack on Queenston, Ontario.
- 1824 - Greek War of Independence: Egyptian forces capture Psara in the Aegean Sea.
- 1826 - Maniots defeat Egyptians under Ibrahim Pasha in the Battle of Vergas
- 1854 - First Victoria Cross won during bombardment of Bomarsund in the Aland Islands.
- 1859 - Franco-Austrian War: Battle of Solférino is fought. Witnessed by Henri Dunant, the results were the Geneva Conventions and the Red Cross.
- 1864 - Maori Wars: The Tauranga Campaign ends.
- 1877 - The Molly Maguires, ten Irish immigrants who were labor activists, are hanged in the Carbon County, Pennsylvania Prison.
- 1887 - Queen Victoria's golden jubilee.
- 1898 - Guam becomes a U.S. territory.
- 1915 - The U.S. Supreme Court hands down its decision in Guinn v. United States 238 US 347 1915, striking down an Oklahoma law denying the right to vote to some citizens.
- 1919 - Royal Canadian Mounted Police fire a volley into a crowd of unemployed war veterans, killing two, during the Winnipeg General Strike.
- 1919 - Admiral Ludvig von Reuter scuttles the German fleet in Scapa Flow, Orkney. The nine sailors killed were the last casualties of the First World War.
- 1939 - The New York Yankees U.S. baseball team announce Lou Gehrig's retirement.
- 1940 - World War II: France surrenders to Germany.
- 1940 - First successful west-to-east navigation of Northwest Passage begins at Vancouver, British Columbia.
- 1942 - World War II: Tobruk falls to German forces.
- 1942 - World War II: A Japanese submarine surfaces near the Columbia River in Oregon, firing 17 shells at nearby Fort Stevens in one of only a handful of attacks by the Japanese against the U.S. mainland.
- 1945 - World War II: Battle of Okinawa ends.
- 1947 - A seaman named Harold Dahl claims to have seen six UFOs near Maury Island, United States. The next morning Dahl reported the first modern MIB encounter.
- 1957 - Ellen Louks Fairclough sworn in as Canada's first woman Cabinet Minister
- 1964 - Three civil rights workers, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Mickey Schwerner, are murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi, United States, by members of the Ku Klux Klan.
- 1965 - Folk rock band The Byrds release their highly influential debut album Mr. Tambourine Man.
- 1973 - In handing down the decision in Miller v. California 413 US 15, the Supreme Court of the United States establishes the Miller Test, which now governs obscenity in U.S. law.
- 1982 - John Hinckley is found not guilty by reason of insanity for the attempted assassination of U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
- 1982 - Fête de la Musique street music festival inaugurated in France by Jack Lang.
- 1989 - The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Texas v. Johnson that flag burning is protected speech under the United States Constitution.
- 2000 - Section 28 repealed in Scotland with a 99 to 17 vote.
- 2003 - Deputy Justice Fazel Ahmed Manawi of the Afghan Supreme Court announces that Aftab editor Sayed Madawi and his deputy Ali Payam Sestani will be tried for "libeling Islam."
- 2003 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth book in J.K. Rowling's hugely popular Harry Potter series, is published.
- 2004 - SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight.
- 2005 - Donald Tsang Yam Kuen is appointed by the People's Republic of China to take over from Tung Chee Hwa as the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Births

- 1002 (O.S.) - Pope Leo IX (d. 1054)
- 1226 (O.S.) - King Boleslaus V of Poland (d. 1279)
- 1535 (O.S.) - Leonhard Rauwolf, German physician and botanist (d. 1596)
- 1639 (O.S.) - Increase Mather, New England Puritan minister (d. 1723)
- 1646 (O.S.) - Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, German philosopher and scientist (d. 1716)
- 1676 (O.S.) - Anthony Collins, English philosopher (d. 1729)
- 1712 - Luc Urbain de Bouexic, comte de Guichen, French admiral (d. 1790)
- 1732 - Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, German composer (d. 1791)
- 1736 (O.S.) - Enoch Poor, American general in the Continental Army (d. 1780)
- 1759 - Alexander J. Dallas, American statesman and financier (d. 1817)
- 1763 - Pierre Paul Royer-Collard, French philosopher (d. 1845)
- 1764 - Sidney Smith, British admiral (d. 1840)
- 1774 - Daniel D. Tompkins, Congressman, Governor of New York, and sixth Vice President of the United States
- 1781 - Siméon-Denis Poisson, French mathematician and physicist (d. 1840)
- 1811 - Carlo Matteucci, Italian physicist (d. 1868)
- 1823 - Jean Chacornac, French astronomer (d. 1873)
- 1825 - William Stubbs, English historian and Anglican bishop of Oxford
- 1839 - Machado de Assis, Brazilian writer (d. 1908)
- 1859 - Henry Ossawa Tanner, American painters (d. 1937)
- 1862 - Damrong Rajanubhab, Thai prince and historian (d. 1943)
- 1863 - Max Wolf, German astronomer (d. 1932)
- 1864 - Heinrich Wölfflin, Swiss art historian (d. 1945)
- 1880 - Arnold Gesell, American psychologist and pediatrician (d.1961)
- 1882 - Rockwell Kent, American artist (d. 1971)
- 1883 - Lluís Companys i Jover, President of Catalonia (d. 1940)
- 1884 - Claude Auchinleck, British field marshal (d. 1981)
- 1887 - Norman L. Bowen, Canadian petrologist (d. 1956)
- 1889 - Ralph Craig, American athlete (d. 1972)
- 1891 - Pier Luigi Nervi, Italian architect (d. 1979)
- 1891 - Hermann Scherchen, German conductor (d. 1966)
- 1892 - Reinhold Niebuhr, Protestant theologian (d. 1971)
- 1893 - Alois Hába, Czech composer (d. 1973)
- 1896 - Charles B. Momsen, American inventor (d. 1967)
- 1898 - Donald C. Peattie, American botanist and writer (d. 1964)
- 1903 - Al Hirschfeld, American cartoonist (d. 2003)
- 1905 - Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and writer, Nobel Prize laureate (declined) (d. 1980)
- 1908 - Yoon Bong-Gil, Korean resister against Japanese occupation of Korea (d. 1932)
- 1912 - Mary McCarthy, American writer (d. 1989)
- 1914 - William Vickrey, Canadian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
- 1919 - Gower Champion, dancer and choreographer (d. 1980)
- 1919 - Gérard Pelletier, French journalist, politician, and diplomat (d. 1997)
- 1921 - Judy Holliday, American actress (d. 1965)
- 1921 - Jane Russell, American actress
- 1925 - Maureen Stapleton, American actress
- 1926 - Conrad Hall, Tahitian-born cinematographer (d. 2003)
- 1927 - Carl Stokes, Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio (d. 1996)
- 1930 - Sir Gerald Kaufman, British politician
- 1931 - Margaret Mary O'Shaughnessy Heckler, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services
- 1935 - Françoise Sagan, French writer (d. 2004)
- 1939 - Ruben Berrios, Puerto Rican politician
- 1940 - Mariette Hartley, American actress
- 1942 - Henry Taylor, American poet
- 1943 - Salomé, Spanish singer
- 1944 - Ray Davies, English musician (The Kinks)
- 1946 - Brenda Holloway, American musician
- 1947 - Meredith Baxter, American actress
- 1947 - Michael Gross, American actor
- 1947 - Shirin Ebadi, Iranian activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- 1948 - Ian McEwan, English writer
- 1948 - Lionel Rose, Australian boxer
- 1948 - Andrzej Sapkowski, Polish writer
- 1950 - Anne Carson, Canadian poet
- 1951 - Nils Lofgren, American musician
- 1953 - Benazir Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan
- 1954 - Robert Menasse, Austrian writer
- 1955 - Tim Bray, Canadian computer programmer
- 1955 - Michel Platini, French footballer
- 1955 - Leigh McCloskey, American actor
- 1957 - Berkeley Breathed, American cartoonist and author
- 1958 - Gennady Padalka, cosmonaut
- 1959 - Marcella Detroit, singer and songwriter (Shakespear's Sister)
- 1959 - Kathy Mattea, American country singer
- 1962 - Viktor Tsoi, Russian musician
- 1964 - Doug Savant, American actor
- 1966 - Rudi Bakhtiar, American journalist
- 1970 - Sindee Coxx, American pornographic actress
- 1973 - Juliette Lewis, American actress
- 1976 - Mike Einziger, American musician (Incubus)
- 1976 - Nigel Lappin, Australian footballer
- 1981 - Brandon Flowers, American singer and keyboardist (The Killers)
- 1982 - Prince William of Wales
- 1985 - Lee Croft, English footballer

Deaths

- 1305 - King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia and Poland (b. 1271)
- 1377 - King Edward III of England (b. 1312)
- 1527 - Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian historian and political author (b. 1469)
- 1529 - John Skelton, English poet
- 1547 - Sebastiano del Piombo, Italian painter (b. 1485)
- 1582 - Oda Nobunaga, Japanese warlord (b. 1534)
- 1591 - Aloysius Gonzaga, Italian saint (b. 1568)
- 1621 - Kryštof Harant, Polish soldier, writer, and composer (b. 1564)
- 1652 - Inigo Jones, English architect (b. 1573)
- 1738 - Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, English statesman (b. 1674)
- 1796 - Richard Gridley, American Revolutionary soldier (b. 1710)
- 1824 - Étienne Aignan, French writer (b. 1773)
- 1874 - Anders Jonas Ångström, Swedish physicist (b. 1814)
- 1908 - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer (b. 1844)
- 1914 - Bertha von Suttner, Austrian writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1843)
- 1934 - Thorne Smith, American author (b. 1892)
- 1951 - Charles Dillon Perrine, American astronomer (b. 1867)
- 1952 - Wilfrid 'Wop' May, Canadian aviation pioneer (b. 1896)
- 1957 - Johannes Stark, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
- 1964 - Andrew Goodman, American civil rights activist (b. 1943)
- 1964 - James Chaney, American civil rights activist (b. 1943)
- 1964 - Michael Schwerner, American civil rights activist (b. 1939)
- 1969 - Maureen Connolly, American tennis player (b. 1934)
- 1970 - Sukarno, President of Indonesia (b. 1901)
- 1976 - Margaret Herrick, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences director (b. 1902)
- 1979 - Angus Maclise, American mystic, shaman, musician, and composer (b. 1938)
- 1980 - Bert Kaempfert, German orchestra leader and songwriter (b. 1923)
- 1985 - Tage Erlander, Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1901)
- 1997 - Fidel Velázquez Sánchez, Mexican labor leader (b. 1900)
- 2000 - Alan Hovhaness, American composer (b. 1911)
- 2001 - Carroll O'Connor, American actor (b. 1924)
- 2001 - John Lee Hooker, American musician (b. 1916)
- 2003 - Roger Neilson, Canadian hockey coach (b. 1934)
- 2003 - Leon Uris, American writer (b. 1924)
- 2004 - Leonel Brizola, Brazillian politician (b. 1922)
- 2005 - Jaime Cardinal Sin, Filipino Catholic Archbishop of Manila (b. 1928)

Holidays and Observances

- Summer solstice (Northern hemisphere) and Winter solstice (Southern hemisphere)
- Astrology: First day of sun sign Cancer
- National Aboriginal Day in Canada (starting in 1996)
- Midsummer – Neopagan festival – Litha
- National Day of Greenland
- Fête de la Musique in France, Belgium and Switzerland.

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/21 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050621.html The New York Times: On This Day] ---- June 20 - June 22 - May 21 - July 21 – listing of all days ko:6월 21일 ms:21 Jun ja:6月21日 simple:June 21 th:21 มิถุนายน

March 21

March 21 is the 80^th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (81^st in leap years). It is also the first day of the astrological year. There are 285 days remaining.

Events

- 1556 - In Oxford, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer is burned at the stake.
- 1788 - A fire destroys 856 buildings in New Orleans and leaves most of the town in ruins.
- 1800 - With the church leadership driven out of the Rome during an armed conflict, Pius VII was crowned Pope in Venice with a temporary papal tiara made of papier-mâché.
- 1801 - The Battle of Alexandria was fought between British and French forces near the ruins of Nicopolis in Egypt.
- 1804 - Code Napoléon was adopted as French civil law.
- 1857 - Earthquake in Tokyo, Japan kills over 100,000.
- 1871 - Journalist Henry Morton Stanley began his trek to find the missionary and explorer David Livingstone.
- 1919 - The Chinese High School is established in Singapore by Tan Kah Kee.
- 1918 - World War I: Second Battle of the Somme begins
- 1928 - Charles Lindbergh is presented the Congressional Medal of Honor for his first trans-Atlantic flight.
- 1935 - Shah Reza Pahlavi formally asked the international community to call Persia by its native name, Iran, which means 'Land of the Aryans'.
- 1940 - Paul Reynaud becomes Prime Minister of France
- 1945 - World War II: British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma
- 1952 - Alan Freed presents the Moondog Coronation Ball, the first rock and roll concert, in Cleveland, Ohio
- 1960 - Apartheid: Massacre in Sharpeville, South Africa: Police open fire on a group of unarmed black South African demonstrators, killing 69 and wounding 180
- 1963 - Alcatraz, a federal penitentiary on an island in San Francisco Bay, closes.
- 1964 - In Copenhagen, Denmark, Gigliola Cinquetti wins the ninth Eurovision Song Contest for Italy singing "Non ho l'età" (I'm not old enough).
- 1965 - Ranger program: NASA launches Ranger 9 which is the last in a series of unmanned lunar space probes.
- 1965 - Martin Luther King Jr leads 3,200 people on the start of the third and finally successful civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery Alabama.
- 1970 The first Earth Day proclamation was issued by San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto.
- 1970 - Vinko Bogataj crashes during a ski-jumping championship in Germany; his image becomes that of the "agony of defeat guy" in the opening credits of ABC's Wide World of Sports.
- 1970 - In Amsterdam, Netherlands, Dana wins the fifteenth Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland singing "All Kinds of Everything".
- 1980 - President Jimmy Carter announces a United States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan.
- 1980 - On the season finale of the soap opera Dallas, the infamous character J.R. Ewing is shot by an unseen assailant, leading to the catchphrase "Who Shot JR?"
- 1985 - Canadian paraplegic athlete and humanitarian Rick Hansen begins his circumnavigation in a wheelchair in the name of spinal cord injury medical research.
- 1989 - Sports Illustrated reports allegations that tie baseball player Pete Rose to baseball gambling.
- 1990 - Namibia becomes independent after 75 years of South African rule.
- 1999 - Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones become the first to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon.
- 2002 - In Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh along with three other suspects are charged with murder for their part in the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
- 2004 - In Malaysia, the 11th Federal and State elections are held, returning the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional to power with an increased majority.
- 2005 - In Red Lake, Minnesota, 10 are killed in a school shooting, the worst since the Columbine High School massacre.

Births

- 1521 - Maurice, Elector of Saxony (d. 1553)
- 1527 - Hermann Finck, German composer (d. 1558)
- 1685 - Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer (d. 1750)
- 1713 - Francis Lewis, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (d. 1803)
- 1763 - Jean Paul, German writer (d. 1825)
- 1768 - Joseph Fourier, French mathematician (d. 1830)
- 1806 - Benito Juárez, Mexican statesman and national hero (d. 1872)
- 1839 - Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, Russian composer (d. 1881)
- 1869 - Florenz Ziegfeld, theatrical producer (d. 1932)
- 1876 - John Tewksbury, American athlete (d. 1968)
- 1882 - Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, American actor (d. 1971)
- 1895 - Zlatko Baloković, Croatian violinist (d. 1955)
- 1901 - Karl Arnold, German politician (d. 1958)
- 1902 - Son House, American musician (d. 1988)
- 1904 - Forrest Mars Sr., American candymaker (d. 1999)
- 1906 - Jim Thompson, American designer and businessman
- 1913 - George Abecassis, English race car driver (d. 1991)
- 1920 - Georg Ots, Estonian singer (d. 1975)
- 1921 - Arthur Grumiaux, Belgian violinist (d. 1986)
- 1922 - Russ Meyer, American film director and producer (d. 2004)
- 1923 - Shri Mataji Nirmala Shrivastava, Indian founder of Sahaja Yoga
- 1927 - Hans-Dietrich Genscher, German politician
- 1932 - Walter Gilbert, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1932 - Joseph Silverstein, American violinist and conductor
- 1930 - James Coco, American actor (d. 1987)
- 1934 - Al Freeman, Jr., American actor
- 1935 - Brian Clough, English footballer and football manager (d. 2004)
- 1940 - Solomon Burke, American singer
- 1943 - Vivian Stanshall, British musician (Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band)
- 1945 - Rose Stone, American musician (Sly & the Family Stone)
- 1946 - Timothy Dalton, British actor
- 1956 - Ingrid Kristiansen, Norwegian runner
- 1958 - Sabrina Le Beauf, American actress
- 1958 - Gary Oldman, English actor
- 1959 - Nobuo Uematsu, Japanese composer
- 1960 - Ayrton Senna, Brazilian race car driver (d. 1994)
- 1961 - Lothar Matthäus, German footballer
- 1962 - Matthew Broderick, American actor
- 1962 - Rosie O'Donnell, American comedienne, actress, talk show host, and publisher
- 1963 - Ronald Koeman, Dutch footballer and football manager
- 1967 - Jonas "Joker" Berggren, Swedish musician (Ace of Base)
- 1975 - Justin Pierce, British actor (d. 2000)
- 1975 - Mark Williams, Welsh snooker player
- 1976 - Liza Harper, French actress
- 1977 - DJ Premier, American rapper (Gang Starr)
- 1980 - Ronaldinho, Brazilian footballer
- [[1980{months

September 23

September 23 is the 266th day of the year (267th in leap years). There are 99 days remaining. Also an important date in pagan history celebrating autumn.

Events

- 1122 - Concordat of Worms
- 1459 - Battle of Blore Heath, the first major battle of the English Wars of the Roses, is fought at Blore Heath in Staffordshire.
- 1529 - The Siege of Vienna begins as Suleiman II begins his attack on the city.
- 1642 - First commencement exercises occur at Harvard College.
- 1779 - American Revolution; USS Bonhomme Richard, commanded by John Paul Jones, wins a fight against the British ships of war Serapis and Countess of Scarborough off the coast of England.
- 1780 - American Revolution; British Major John Andre arrested as a spy by American soldiers exposing Benedict Arnold's treason.
- 1803 - Battle of Assaye
- 1806 - Lewis and Clark return, after exploring the Pacific Northwest of the United States.
- 1845 - The Knickerbockers Baseball Club, the first baseball team to play under the modern rules, is founded in New York.
- 1846 - Discovery of Neptune by French astronomer Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier and British astronomer John Couch Adams; verified by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle
- 1868 - Grito de Lares (Lares Revolt) occurs in Puerto Rico against Spanish rule.
- 1875 - William Bonney ("Billy the Kid") is arrested for the first time.
- 1884 - Herman Hollerith patents his mechanical tabulating machine.
- 1905 - Norway and Sweden sign the "Karlstad treaty", officially ending the Union<