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Winter Holidays, Observances, & Notable Dates Posters
for the classroom, home schoolers, and theme decor for offices.
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social studies > holidays & observances posters > Winter posters
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Winter is the coldest season of the year, between the transitional seasons of Autumn and Spring, and the opposite of Summer. The word 'winter', from the old Germanic, has the root meaning of 'the time of water', which is what would be happening with the weather in the form of rain and snow in the higher latitudes. People nearest the poles experience the depth of winter with almost perpetual darkness, and the opposite extreme of almost 24 hours of daylight in the summer.
• animated .gif of seasonal changes.
 Astronomically Winter is the season from the winter solstice (sol + stitium= stoppage) when the sun is furthest from the celestial equator and the length of time between sunrise and sunset is the least, to when the sun 'crosses' the celestial equator (the projection of the geopgraphical equator on the celestial sphere). In the northern hemisphere the winter solstice is around December 22 and the vernal equinox is around March 22.
The equinoxes and solstices mark relative positions of the orbiting Earth that has a 23.5° axis tilt to the orbit plane, thus varying the exposure of the northern and southern hemisphere and resulting in seasonal (periodic) changes. Because of this tilt he southern hemisphere experiences summer when the northern hemisphere has winter. Stonehenge is an example of an ancient astronomical observatory, where the people could be assured that the sun was following its usual path.
Weatherwise the Winter season may not match the astronomical dates as the weather is influenced by local geographic landforms such as large bodies of water that retain heat.
Another definiton of winter is when plants and animals become dormant. Some plants die and leave seeds for the next generation, others cease growing until longer daylight hours provide enough sunlight for their optimum growth. Some animals hibernate, go into a very deep sleep, in order to conserve energy when its food supply is not available, others migrate to warmer climates, rabbits change the color of their fur and some birds change feather colors to blend into the environment. Some humans suffer from SAD - Seasonal affective disorder also called winter depression, which appears to be related to to daylight.
Greek mythology explained the winter season as the mourning and near death of Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, to her daughter Persephone's abduction to the underworld for six months. Christmas, the Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus, and Chanukah, the Jewish festival of lights, are related to the time when people marked the depth of darkness and the annual rebirth of light.
Also see monthly Observances and Events lists - November list | December list | January list | February list
• “In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.” ~ William Blake
• “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” ~ Anne Bradstreet
• “The tendinous part of the mind, so to speak, is more developed in winter; the fleshy, in summer. I should say winter had given the bone and sinew to literature, summer the tissues and the blood.” ~ John Burroughs
• “Every mile is two in winter.” ~ George Herbert
• “Every winter,
When the great sun has turned his face away,
The earth goes down into a vale of grief,
And fasts, and weeps, and shrouds herself in sables,
Leaving her wedding-garlands to decay -
Then leaps in spring to his returning kisses.”~ Charles Kingsley
• “I was just thinking, if it is really religion with these nudist colonies, they sure must turn atheists in the wintertime.” ~ Will Rogers
• “Blow, blow, thou winter wind, thou art not so unkind as man's ingratitude.” ~ William Shakespeare
• “If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?” ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley
• “Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.” ~ Edith Sitwell
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Christmas - Christmas is the annual Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus, on whose teaching the Christian religion is based. The word Christmas is from the Old English and is a contraction of ‘Christ's mass’. When written as Xmas it is because the X resembles the Greek letter ‘chi’, an abbreviation for Christ. ... • more Christmas posters
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Chanukah - Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, is a celebration of the victory of the Maccabees and the rededication of the Jerusalem Temple commemorating the miracle of the oil that burned for 8 days. ... • more Judaism posters
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New Year's Eve,
December 31
Did you know? - not all cultures celebrate the beginning of the “new year” on January 1.
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| Month of February Holidays posters |
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February 2nd is the midpoint between Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox
The date, known as “Candlemas”, has a Scottish rhyme that says “If Candlemas Day is bright and clear, There'll be two winters in the year.”
In the Groundhog tradition, if the “official” groundhog sees his shadow in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, we will have six more weeks of winter.
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Valentine's Day, Feb 14
Valentine's Day is named after two early martyrs of the Christian faith. The tradition of relating the name Valentine to courtly, romantic love wasn't until the Middle Ages when Geoffrey Chaucer used it in his poem 'Parlement of Foules' in 1382, to honor the engagement of Richard II and Anne of Bohemia.
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Hail, Sleet, and Ice are forms of precipitation:
Hail consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice called hail stones.
Sleet is the intermediate between rain and snow, distinct from hail stones.
Ice is frozen water and variably describes as rain that freezes on contact with objects when it falls.
• more Wild Weather poster series
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Old Man Winter Blowing Bad Weather into a City
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Thousands of People Flap Their Arms and Legs, making angels in the snow at the Capitol in Bismarck, ND, on Saturday, Feb 17, 2007.
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Snowflakes
“In nature, specialness is not for a priveleged few. Every kind of life is unique. It is these millions of differences that make living the adventure that it is.”
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Winter, from a Series of the Four Seasons, Commissioned by Emperor Maximilian II (1527-76) 1573
Giuseppe Arcimboldo
• optical illusion posters
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Demeter Searching for Persephone
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Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening, Robert Frost
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Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
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