The concept of pain is sometimes used in a figurative sense, as when speaking of spiritual pain to describe a special psychic state caused by various external or internal factors and associated with distressing sensations.
During the winter solstice â which falls on December 21 or 22 in the Northern Hemisphere and June 20 or 21 in the Southern Hemisphere â the path that the sun travels in the sky reaches its lowest point. It is the shortest day of the year, and has been noted and celebrated by a wide variety of cultures around the world.
A crowd celebrates last year's winter solstice at Stonehenge. Photograph by Matt Cardy, Getty Images Today is the winter solstice and the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. It's all due to Earth's tilt, which ensures that the shortest day of every year falls around December 21. Some predicted that today would also mark Earth's doomsday, thanks to a longstanding rumor that the Maya calendar ends on December 21, 2012.