longest night
December's darkest evening
The longest night is the winter solstice—the night with the most hours of darkness in the year, occurring around December 21 in the Northern Hemisphere.
The phrase often carries poetic or symbolic weight, suggesting endurance through difficulty: We'll get through this longest night together.
Various cultures mark it with festivals celebrating the return of light.
- winterYear's coldest quarter
- winter solsticeShortest day, longest night
- solsticeDay of maximum tilt
- darknessTotal absence of light
- DecemberYear's final month
cold · endless · sleepless · vigil · insomnia · tossing and turning · moonlight · stars · fireside · candles · shadows · stillness · waiting · dawn · first light · frost · silence · hours
- Solstice Festivalswinter solstice, summer solstice, midwinter, midsummer, shortest day
longest nightsummer solstice
Longest daylight of year
longest day · midsummer · June solstice · midnight sun · white nights
longest, night, long, longer, length, lengthen, lengthening, lengthy, lengthily