In 2024, we will welcome the first day of winter on Sunday, December 22. Calendar winter lasts three months and will end with the arrival of calendar spring, i.e. on March 21, 2025.
When will winter 2024 start? Get ready for the fascinating time of the winter solstice
The first day of astronomical winter begins with the winter solstice. In 2024 it will be December 21 at 10:19 am. This is the time when the shortest day of the year occurs in the Northern Hemisphere. After December 21, the days will get longer and the nights shorter. How many hours the shortest day of the year lasts depends on latitude. In 2024, in Poland its length will be on average 7 hours and 40 minutes. On December 21, the sun will rise around seven in the morning and set after three. However, you must remember that the further north you go, the later the sun will rise. For the Slavs, the winter solstice began the time of worshiping the god of the afterlife – Weles and his children Swarożyc and Marzanna. Generous Gody is a Slavic holiday that is very similar to the celebration of Christian Christmas. According to the “Slavic Bestiary” – Generous Gody also had other names, they were called the Mating Festival, Szczodruszki, Gody, Days of Winter Sunshine. The last name, probably the least known today, best reflects the character of this unique period. The reason for celebration for our ancestors was to say goodbye to the short, dark days of winter and welcome days full of sunshine. The solstice was treated as the time of the sun’s victory over darkness, and therefore the triumph of the god Svarog. As the day followed, each subsequent day was longer, brighter and therefore friendlier to people. At this time, tribute was also paid to Weles – a blog of the afterlife, magic and wild and domestic animals. And also to his daughter Marzanna – a goddess symbolizing winter and death, but also fertility and the destructive power of nature. The Generous Wedding usually lasted from the day of the winter solstice, i.e. around December 21/22, until January 6. At that time, carols and feasts were held not only in homes, but also in cemeteries. Because it was also a moment of starting conversations with the spirits of our ancestors.
Happy birthday. Customs and superstitions
The winter solstice was full of prophecies and superstitions. The Slavs believed that magic worked exceptionally strongly at this time. There are ghosts and demons running around the world that can help or harm you. First of all, during the entire Bountiful Wedding, it was forbidden to work or use sharp tools, because it could bring misfortune. One of the most popular divinations at that time were those using water.
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The methods of water divination were different, but always interesting. The purpose of fortune telling, very popular among young girls, was to look for the image of their future husband in the water. The girls were looking for the image of the future bridegroom in an ice hole, in a well, in a spring, in a bowl of water. Sometimes the mirror took over her role – at midnight, when the Generous Wedding began, the bride had to go to a secluded place, undress naked and, without taking her eyes off the mirror, look for the image of her future husband in the twilight – we read on the “Bestiariusz Słowiański” blog.
