The summer solstice will take place this month.
The celebration, also known as the longest day of the year, marks the return of brighter evenings.
Here’s all you need to know:
What is the summer solstice?
The solstice marks the start of astronomical summer in the northern hemisphere.
It ends with the fall equinox of September 22.
The solstice marks an almost equal length of day and night as the Sun crosses the line of the equator and moves over the northern hemisphere.
At the June solstice, the Earth is positioned in a way that the North Pole tilts towards the Sun.
Crowds cheer for sunrise at Stonehenge
What is the longest day of the year?
In the northern hemisphere, the summer solstice, or longest day of the year, occurs between June 20 and June 22 of each year.
This year, it falls on Monday June 21 – when the UK gets 16 hours and 38 minutes of daylight.
The sun will rise at 4:52 am and sunset at 9:26 pm.
Midsummer celebrations
There are a number of ancient celebrations associated with the June solstice.
People used the day to organize calendars and farmers marked the day with sowing or harvesting crops.
Many historians say Stonehenge, a prehistoric monument in England, is evidence that humans use the June solstice as a way to define the time of year.
Even now, tourists and locals alike visit Stonehenge to watch the summer solstice sunrise.
According to timeanddate.com, “In ancient China, the summer solstice was observed in a ceremony celebrating Earth, femininity and ‘yin’ forces. It complemented the winter solstice which celebrated the heavens, masculinity and the ‘yang’ forces. ”
In Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, the summer solstice is a time of nighttime festivities.
This is the time when countries near the Arctic take advantage of the midnight sun.
A woman twirls a hoop as the sun rises at Stonehenge Photo: PA
People dance around the maypoles and bonfires.
The houses are illuminated and decorated with violets and vanilla flowers.
What happens during the summer solstice?
There are two solstices each year – one in winter and one in summer.
The summer solstice occurs when the tilt of the Earth’s axis is most tilted towards the sun and is directly above the Tropic of Cancer.
The event signals when the sun’s path stops moving northward across the sky, and the onset of days becomes shorter and shorter as the slow march towards winter begins.
However, we won’t notice that the days are getting shorter for a while.
The shortest day of the year is only Monday, December 21, known as the winter solstice; it lasts 7 hours and 50 minutes in Great Britain, 8 hours 48 minutes shorter than the June solstice.
A woman wears a colorful headdress at Stonehenge Photo: PA
At the winter solstice, the Earth’s axis is tilted farthest from the sun directly above the tropic of Capricorn bringing only a few hours of daylight.
In the southern hemisphere, the dates of the two solstices are reversed. The winter solstice takes place on the same day in June and the summer solstice on the same day in December.
The term “solstice” derives from the Latin word “solstitium”, which means “still sun”.
Astrologers say that the sun appears to “stop” at the point on the horizon where it appears to rise and set, before moving away in the opposite direction.
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Source: www.theargus.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-06-15 16:40:00
