Happy solstice day.
Because the perigee, apogee, and 23° axis of the planet are the reasons for the seasons.
Speaking of New Year’s Eve/Day, the subway in Taipei will operate for 42 hours straight from Friday morning until Saturday night, allowing drunk revellers to get to and from events both days. My empathies to those heroes, I hope they’re getting paid double time. My sister Kat wants to watch the fireworks at midnight near Taipei 101 (here’s video of the event from two years ago), but I can’t find a pair of noise cancelling headphones that fit into a purse.
Chinese New Year 2022 (year of the tiger) is on Tuesday February 1st, which will be a nice change. For the past five years, CNY started mid-week, only lasting six days. 2016 was the last weekend to weekend CNY, nine consecutive days off. We need it.
Too bad nobody can travel anywhere, though.
Yeah, I’ve never thought January 1 was a good date to call “new year’s day.” The Winter Solstice is when days start to get longer, so that’s the most plausible date to mark the start of a new year.
I agree, the day after winter solstice is a more logical marker of the new year.
And a related question, why do we insist on linking the seasons with the solstices and equinoxes? I would make more sense to shift the seasons about a month and a half earlier. That way winter starts in early November when winter weather is typically getting under way, And what better time to start summer than early June?
Yeah, the “first day of summer” is also called “midsummer.” WTF?!