[TIMES] December 22, 2025, 0:03 AM Winter Solstice @ Solar Longitude 270°

──At 0:03 AM, into the depths of light. Solstitium, which means "the sun stands still" in Latin. Just as a pendulum pauses for an instant at its peak, the sun also stops its southward movement. But this is not relaxation. It is a "dynamic stillness" where the energy for a reversal in direction has reached its limit. The brain flushes out waste products during the long night, and plants store the amount of cold at a molecular level. Ancient people built megalithic devices to capture this turning point. Yin reaches its extreme and Yang returns, the return of the light──Kaichi Sugiyama

The Heliocentric Calendar announces the solar longitude of 270°, the "Winter Solstice."

The days reach their shortest.

According to the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan's calendar requirements, on December 22, 2025, at 0:03 AM, the solar longitude reaches 270 degrees, marking the Winter Solstice.

In the Northern Hemisphere, this is the day with the shortest amount of sunlight and the longest night of the year. Looking at the Heliocentric Calendar, the top of the circle is the Summer Solstice, and the bottom is the Winter Solstice. If the Summer Solstice is the peak, then the Winter Solstice is the valley. The light that has been falling finally hits the bottom, and the point where it is completely **"settled"** is the Winter Solstice.

Although it is the day with the shortest daylight of the year, the latest sunrise is about half a month after the Winter Solstice, and the earliest sunset is about half a month before the Winter Solstice. The difference from the Summer Solstice is about 5 hours──the night is actually as long as two feature-length films.

Winter Solstice Sunrise Relay──Sunrise Time Check

The latest sunrise of the year. It is also the sunrise we look forward to the most all year.

From 6:17 in Ogasawara to 7:23 in Ishigaki Island. Even on the same Winter Solstice morning, there is a "light time difference" of about one hour across the Japanese archipelago. Starting from the east, waves of light travel across the islands.

This Winter Solstice, why not wake up a little early and welcome the sunrise? On that morning when the pendulum reverses, the weakest light carries the strongest promise──that from here on, the days will grow longer.

Check the sunrise time in your city and witness the moment of the return of the light. If you take a photo, I would be happy if you could add tags like #HeliocentricCalendar #SunriseRelay!

The New Year of Light──Space-time at 0:00 AM

If you compare a year to a single day, the Winter Solstice is 0:00 AM.

This year's Winter Solstice is at 0:03 AM. Just as a day changes its date from night to morning, a year also enters a new cycle at the Winter Solstice. It is a New Year of Light, different from the solar calendar New Year (January 1st) or the lunar calendar New Year (the beginning of spring).

Even if people know the "day" of the Winter Solstice, few may be conscious of the "moment" of the Winter Solstice. It is that single point where the Earth has passed 3/4 (270°) of its orbital path measured from the vernal equinox.

At 0:03 AM, when you are going to sleep, or if you are staying up late, please try to be conscious of the moment of the Winter Solstice. The retreat of Yin ends and it turns toward the "return of the light"──it is a quiet turning point.

Sol-stitium──The moving sun stops

The etymology of "solstice" is the Latin word solstitium. It is a combination of two words.

• Sol: The Sun

• Sistere: To stand still, to stop something that is moving

What is noteworthy is that it includes not just the state of standing (Stare), but the nuance of the action of "coming to a stop" for something that was moving. For a few days around the winter solstice, the sunrise and sunset positions of the sun, which had been moving rapidly every day, barely move at all. Ancient people keenly sensed this "stillness."

Zero velocity, maximum acceleration!

The true nature of this "stillness" can be understood as the extremum of a sine wave as a concept.

Think of a swing in a park. The moment it reaches the left or right end—

• Velocity: zero—for an instant, movement stops completely

• Acceleration: maximum—the force pulling it back in the opposite direction is at its strongest

The winter solstice is the moment when the velocity of the sun's declination (north-south movement) becomes zero. Around the spring and autumn equinoxes, the sun moves about 24 arcminutes per day, but around the winter solstice, it moves only a few arcseconds.

However, this "stillness" is not relaxation. In that instant when a pendulum stops in mid-air, gravitational potential is packed at its maximum density. Similarly, the winter solstice is a "dynamic stillness" where half a year's worth of kinetic energy has been fully converted into potential energy, reversing toward a new release—that compressed point is the true nature of the solstice.

Hibernating brain—the glymphatic system and the long night

While we sleep, a "deep cleaning" is taking place in our brains.

The recently discovered glymphatic system—a system that uses the flow of cerebrospinal fluid to wash away waste products in the brain. Metabolic waste products like amyloid-beta, which accumulate during daily activities, can also be risk factors for dementia. However, this purification system hardly functions while awake and only activates during sleep.

When we fall asleep, brain cells shrink, and the interstitial space expands by up to 60%. Cerebrospinal fluid flows into these spaces, flushing away waste. In other words, it is a brain drainage channel that only opens at night!

The long night of the winter solstice is the perfect opportunity to run this system at full capacity. The sleepiness we feel in winter is not laziness! It is "maintenance time" that the brain is demanding, saying "Let me clean up while I can" in order to clear out a year's worth of grime.

A deep cleaning of the room starts from the winter solstice. A deep cleaning of the brain, too, starts from the winter solstice—

Molecular locks—the winter length that plants remember

Why don't plants mistakenly bloom during the Indian summer of autumn, but instead wait until after surviving the harsh winter to bloom in the spring? I have always wondered about such a simple question.

The secret lies in a mechanism called vernalization.

Plant cells contain a gene (the FLC gene) that commands them, "Do not bloom yet." During autumn, this gene works actively to put the brakes on flowering. However, as winter cold persists, this gene begins to be "locked".

The key itself is a small chemical substance attached to a protein called histone. Since DNA is wrapped around histones, when the histone is locked, the gene cannot be read. The braking gene is sealed, creating a state where it is "okay to bloom."

What is interesting is that this lock is applied in proportion to the "amount of cold." One day is not enough. Even a week is not enough. After experiencing weeks of low temperatures, the lock finally closes completely. Plants are "counting" the length of winter at the molecular level.

Even when spring arrives, the lock that has been applied does not come off. That is why, the moment it gets warm, they can bloom without hesitation.

You cannot skip winter and get only spring.

You are only prepared to bloom for the number of days you have endured the cold. This wisdom, which plants have cultivated over hundreds of millions of years, quietly resonates with our own lives.

Devices for Capturing Light: The Astronomy of Megalithic Civilizations

The winter solstice is one of the longest-observed astronomical phenomena in human history. Megalithic ruins around the world were built as precise devices to capture this "turning point of light."

Newgrange (Ireland)

A passage tomb built around 3200 BC. From an opening above the entrance called a "roof box," for only about 17 minutes immediately after sunrise for a few days around the winter solstice, sunlight passes through the 19-meter passage to illuminate the inner chamber.

Stonehenge (United Kingdom)

Famous for its summer solstice sunrise, recent research points to the possibility that it was originally focused on the "winter solstice sunset." Traces of large-scale rituals and feasts aligned with the winter solstice have also been discovered at nearby ruins.

Karnak Temple (Egypt)

The main axis is designed to align with the winter solstice sunrise. The light of the sunrise passes through a hypostyle hall of over 500 meters and strikes the innermost sanctuary directly.

Perhaps ancient people viewed the winter solstice as a "manipulatable turning point." They were not just idly waiting for the sun to return; they calculated that at the very moment the sun was at its weakest, it would definitely arrive at a specific point, and there they

attempted to "capture" the light!

With holes, with frames, with axes!—Do not wait for time, go out to meet it!

"Invite it in and capture it." This active stance resonates with the mindset of those of us who use the Heliocalendar.

The Wisdom of 'Bureiko' (No-Protocol) — The Winter Solstice Reset Function

Winter solstice festivals around the world share a mysterious commonality: temporarily breaking everyday rules.

In ancient Roman Saturnalia, slaves and masters swapped roles, with masters serving the meals. In the Persian Yalda, people would stay up all night talking through the longest night of the year. In the Nordic Yule, it was believed that the dead would return, so people wore masks to become 'someone else'.

Why was a period of 'chaos' necessary before welcoming the new light?

When a computer slows down, restarting it makes it run smoothly again. This is because accumulated temporary files and processes are reset. Society is the same. The hierarchies that have hardened over the year, the pent-up frustrations, the tangled human relationships—these are all shuffled once during the 'no-protocol' winter solstice, creating the space needed to welcome the New Year.

To maintain order (cosmos), periodic chaos is necessary—this is the paradox taught by ancient winter solstice festivals.

Epoch—The Starting Point of Observation

Among the two solstices and two equinoxes of the natural world, the winter solstice has been the easiest to observe and has been considered the 'Epoch' (Rekigen), the reference point for creating a calendar. For those who observe the movement of the sun and compile calendars, the winter solstice was the beginning of the year and the starting point for all calculations.

HELIOCENTRIC CALENDAR HELIO COMPASS 2026
—Pre-orders now open🎊

We have started accepting pre-orders for the 2026 edition of the Heliocentric Calendar.

[72 Micro-Seasons] Winter Solstice Season

First Season (approx. Dec 22–26) Natsukarekusa Shozu (The Self-Heal sprouts)—The self-heal plant begins to sprout

Second Season (approx. Dec 27–31) Sawashika no Tsuno Otsuru (The deer sheds its antlers)—The great deer sheds its antlers

Third Season (approx. Jan 1–4) Yuki Watarite Mugi Izuru (Snow melts and wheat sprouts)—Wheat sprouts under the snow

Outlook from the Winter Solstice

Space-time information from the Winter Solstice to Minor Cold

December 22, 2025 – January 5, 2026

278 | 2025/12/22 Winter Solstice 00:03 Shimotsuki 3rd
279 | 2025/12/23 Shimotsuki 4th
280 | 2025/12/24 Shimotsuki 5th
281 | 2025/12/25 Shimotsuki 6th
282 | 2025/12/26 Shimotsuki 7th
283 | 2025/12/27 Shimotsuki 8th
284 | 2025/12/28 Shimotsuki First Quarter Moon 04:10
285 | 2025/12/29 Shimotsuki 10th
286 | 2025/12/30 Shimotsuki 11th
287 | 2025/12/31 Shimotsuki 12th Mercury-Uranus Opposition New Year's Eve
288 | 2026/01/01 Shimotsuki 13th New Year's Day (Gregorian)
289 | 2026/01/02 Shimotsuki 14th
290 | 2026/01/03 Shimotsuki Full Moon 19:03
291 | 2026/01/04 Perihelion Shimotsuki 16th
292 | 2026/01/05 Lesser Cold 17:23 Shimotsuki 17th

Afterword

This year's winter solstice is at 0:03 AM. It is a time truly fitting for the "midnight of the year."

Just as a pendulum stops for an instant at its peak, the sun also stops its southward movement at this moment. However, this is not relaxation, but a "dynamic stillness" where the energy for a reversal in direction is at its peak. Just as the brain's glymphatic system flushes out waste, plants write molecular memories for vernalization, and ancient people re-normalized society through chaos—the stillness of the winter solstice is a time for all life to reset for spring.

The Earth has safely passed the 3/4 mark of its orbital path. From here on, the light will increase.

Wishing you a wonderful end to the year.

Kaichi Sugiyama

[Request for Cooperation]

We take the utmost care in writing these articles, but if you notice any typos, omissions, numerical errors, or factual inaccuracies, please do not hesitate to point them out.

Reference Materials:

• National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Calendar Requirements for 2025 (Reiwa 7)

• National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Calendar Requirements for 2026 (Reiwa 8)

• "Encyclopedia of the Calendar" (Hon-no-Izumisha) by Yoshiro Okada and Yoshiaki Matsui

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