During the Northern Hemisphere's summer solstice, the upper half of the earth is tilted toward the sun, creating the longest day and shortest night of the year. This solstice falls between June 20 and 22.
Solstices are when days and nights are at their most extreme
That means the sun's warmth and light fall unequally on the northern and southern halves of the planet. The solstices mark the times during the year when this tilt is at its most extreme, and days and nights are at their most unequal.
During the summer solstice, the earth's axis is tilted at its closest point from the sun. This means that in the northern hemisphere, the sun is at its highest point in the sky. It's also the longest day of the year - and the shortest night.
Equinoxes and solstices are key points in Earth's orbit around the sun that mark the transition between seasons. Equinoxes occur when the Earth's axis is tilted neither toward nor away from the sun, resulting in nearly equal day and night lengths worldwide. Solstices occur when the Earth's tilt is at its maximum towards or away from the sun, resulting in the longest and shortest days of the year, respectively
Celebrations were marked by bonfires to boost the sun's strength for the growing season. The bonfires also symbolized protection, fertility, and prosperity. Similarly, the ancient Romans honored Vesta, goddess of the hearth, with a festival that culminated around the summer solstice.
When you're honouring the Summer Solstice, the sun, and our natural world, there isn't much you can do more in line with the occasion than getting outside in the garden. You could also plant flowers that are believed to represent the sun, like sunflowers and carnations
The goddess often associated with the Summer Solstice in Celtic traditions is Áine, an Irish goddess of summer, love, and wealth. She is also known as a fairy queen and is associated with the sun, wealth, and sovereignty
The Summer Solstice time was an event of tremendous importance to the proto-Druids of the New Stone Age, who built a number of magnificent megaliths aligned to the sunrise on this day.
On the summer solstice, you may observe that the Sun's path across the sky is curved—NOT a straight line. It appears to rise and keeps veering to the right as it passes high overhead. This is quite different from the laser-straight path the Sun moves along in late March and late September, near the equinoxes
Over the centuries, the June solstice has inspired many festivals and midsummer celebrations involving bonfires, picnics, singing, watching the sun rise and Maypole dancing. Many towns and villages across Britain still mark the day.
The summer solstice, the longest day of the year, holds significant spiritual meaning across various cultures and traditions. It's often viewed as a time of illumination, renewal, and celebration, symbolizing the triumph of light over darkness and the peak of the sun's energy.
Mysticism and magic are a common theme in midsummer folklore across the world as well as in the UK. Magic was thought to be strongest during the summer solstice and myths told of the world turning upside down or the sun standing still at midsummer.
The summer solstice or estival solstice occurs when one of Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern and Southern). The summer solstice is the day with the longest period of daylight and shortest night of the year in that hemisphere, when the sun is at its highest position in the sky. At either pole there is continuous daylight at the time of its summer solstice. The opposite event is the winter solstice.
On the summer solstice, Earth's maximum axial tilt toward the Sun is 23.44°. Likewise, the Sun's declination from the celestial equator is 23.44°. In areas outside the tropics, the sun reaches its highest elevation angle at solar noon on the summer solstice.