Summer Solstice: The Longest Day

by Captain StarCastle

On June 21st the Earth will tilt off it’s axis marking the beginning of Summer in the Northern Hemisphere, the longest day of the year; while in the Southern Hemisphere winter will have begun. When tilted off it’s axis the sun’s rays are directly along the Tropic of Cancer, latitude 23.5, passing through Mexico, Saharan African, and India. [about.com] The tilt of the axis is only a mere 23.5 degrees, but without this tilt the sun would remain over the equator year round with only a slight change as the elliptical orbit of the Earth takes us further from the sun. this peaks around July 3, and we would experience no seasons. Not very exciting.

So the changing of the seasons is one reason the Summer Solstice is looked forward to and celebrated all over the world in the Northern Hemisphere. If we had only one season all year round, we'd either be stuck in winter all the time, or the heat of summer year round. Of course 6 months later in December during the Winter Solstice, the seasons reverse themselves when the Earth tilts back upright.

Without getting too technical about the whole Longest Day thing, I thought it would be interesting if I shared a few sun rise/sun sets around the world for June 21st showing the length of the daylight hours each part of the globe will experience on that day. Might be fun to look up your local. What will the day be like for you Aussies, 'eh?

The Longest Day of the Year: June 21st

Anchorage, Alaska: Sunrise 4:20am/Sunset 11:42pm
Seattle, Washington: Sunrise 5:11am/Sunset 9:10pm
Portland, Oregon: Sunrise 5:21am/Sunset 9:03pm
New York City, New York: Sunrise 5:24am/Sunset 8:30pm
Sacramento, California: Sunrise 5:42am/Sunset 8:33pm
Los Angeles, California: Sunrise 5:41am/Sunset 8:07pm
Miami, Florida: Sunrise 6:30am/Sunset 8:14pm
Honolulu, Hawaii: Sunrise 5:50am/Sunset 7:16pm
Reykjavik, Iceland: 24 hours of sunlight on June 21st
London, United Kingdom: Sunrise 4:42am/Sunset 9:20pm
Tokyo, Japan: Sunrise 4:25am/Sunset 6:59pm
Mexico City, Mexico: Sunrise 6:58am/Sunset 8:16pm
Nairobi, Kenya: Sunrise 6:33am/Sunset 6:33pm 12 hours of sunlight

Do you know the Sunrise and Sunset times for June 21st where you are?

The Sun in Cancer

During the Solstice the Sun falls in line with Cancer; June 21st to July 22nd currently. Because June and the Summer Solstice marks the beginning of new life and nurturing, spring planting and the warming of the seasons in the Northern Hemisphere, there is much celebrating around the globe. The Sun Sign, Cancer is the water cardinal sign, the mother, nurturing, about family and new life. Many marry in June, during Cancer. Graduations often fall during the sign of new beginnings, symbolic for the end of one year, or season, or life, and the beginnings of the next, or new one. All this centred around or taking place for the most part in June.

I browsed the web for celebrations and there were so many, so many wonderful parades, festivals, rituals to bring in the new season I found them too many to place here, but if you find one in your area, you might plan to attend. They look very exciting.

What Means This...June Solstice Thing?

In English, in the Northern Hemisphere the period around the June Solstice is known as Midsummer or Midsummer’s Day. Midsummer was thought to be a time of magic, when evil spirits were said to appear. To thwart them, Pagans often wore protective garlands of herbs and flowers. One of the most powerful of them was a plant called 'chase-devil', which is known today as St. John's Wort and still used by modern herbalists as a mood stabilizer,

Similarly in December, such celebrations bring in the start of Christmas season, the Summer beginnings in the Southern Hemisphere. These celebrations were actually pagan festivals in pre-Christian times when the sun would begin its return back to the Northern Hemisphere.

Pagans also called the Midsummer moon the "Honey Moon" for the mead made from fermented honey that was part of wedding ceremonies performed at the Summer Solstice. Ancient Pagans celebrated Midsummer with bonfires, when couples would leap through the flames, believing their crops would grow as high as the couples were able to jump. Many of these rituals were often performed at Stonehenge.

Earth Mysteries: Stonehenge

In the 18th Century Stonehenge had been declared a temple of the Druids by some Druid enthusiasts, some saying its creations was fashioned along the lines of Freemasonry. There are many theories and scholarly reports, books and discussions by prominent researchers of Ancient Celtic and Druid culture, but no real evidence points to the Druids responsible for the Stones. One conclusion, in 1655, by John Webb promotes the idea that Stonehenge was not built by the Druids as some had claimed, but by the Romans. 

It is fact that Stonehenge has been restored many times over, have been damaged by decades of pagan rituals and abuse by the public, in 1900 visitors to the monument caused two stone to fall. By 1949 the damage had become extensive, even with fees charged to enter the circle and finally in 1984 Stonehenge was placed under the control of the English Heritage, an agency responsible for looking after ancient sites in England.

In the Hindu calendar, two sidereal solstices are named Uttarayana and Dakshinayana. The former occurs around January 14 each year, while the latter occurs around July 14 each year. These mark the movement of the Sun along a sidereally fixed zodiac (precession is ignored) into Mesha, a zodiacal sign which corresponded with Aries about 285, and into Tula, the opposite zodiacal sign which corresponded with Libra about 285.

Celebrating the Summer Solstice

Santa Barbara Summer Solstice Parade & Celebration


Stockholm Summer Solstice 2009

Image credits:
All photos from Stonehenge and the Druids 
1. A village outing in the late 19th century.
2. Druids celebrating the summer solstice at Stonehenge © Mike Pitts
3. A photograph from 1966 shows the Druids almost lost among the crowds of people, a number of whom watch the ceremonies perched on top of the stones.