Alice Roberts

Pagan Romans started their midwinter celebrations with the feast of Saturnalia on 17 December, ending them with a new year festival, the Kalendae Januariae, at the start of January - both were celebrated with parties and the exchange of gifts.

English Scientist

Ben Fogle

Geography was the lesson I always looked forward to most. It was a form of escapism. It could be bleak midwinter outside but inside you're learning about African farming methods or the Great Lakes. No other lesson had that excitement.

English Writer

John Burnside

Clearly, any well-kept garden will be a source of pleasure in the summer months; in the bleak urban midwinter, however, there are few activities more likely to energise the spirit than a botanical walk.

Scottish Writer

Lisa Scottoline

Any middle-aged woman knows that our feet are not for the faint of heart, especially in midwinter. I wear clogs, so it's actually like my feet are wooden now.

American Author

Stonehenge is famously aligned with midsummer sunrise, and possibly also intentionally with midwinter sunset.

The concept of midwinter can vary. In some cultures, it's a significant seasonal festival.

Cultural Variance

'Midwinter' can also symbolize 'a period of darkness or hardship', not just the season.

Figurative Use

Using 'midwinter' can evoke feelings of cold, darkness, and sometimes loneliness.

Emotional Tone

 and tail earning her the nickname frostbite unfortunately the family suffers from more than brutal cold and midwinter a pack of hungry wolves

Cameras Reveal the...

 by midwinter temperatures dropped to minus 50 degrees Celsius and deep snow