The Summer Solstice, also known as the longest day of the year, is traditionally a festive day associated with the beginning of warmer months, longer days, early dawns, late sunsets and shorter nights in the Northern Hemisphere. This year, Summer Solstice in India is on June 21, according to timeanddate.com. Celebrations and feasts on June Solstice are different in every country. The midsummer celebrations have a long history as well. Here's everything you need to know about the Northern Hemisphere's longest day of the year.
What does "Solstice" mean?
"Solstice" means "sun stands still" in Latin, according to NASA. This is because the sunrise on the solstice is the farthest northeast and sunset is the farthest northwest of the year. For a few days before and after the solstice, the sun also appears close to these farthest points before slowly drifting back to rise and set due east at the following equinox.
What is Summer Solstice?
The Solstice is the beginning of the astronomical summer in the Northern Hemisphere. It ends with the autumn equinox in September, per timeanddate.com. The Solstice marks the almost equal duration of day and night as the Sun crosses the Line of the Equator and moves over the Northern Hemisphere. On June Solstice, the Earth is positioned in a way that the North Pole tilts towards the Sun.
What happens during Summer Solstice?
According to Live Science, when our planet's orbit reaches the point where the North Pole is at its most inclined toward the Sun, it is exactly over the Tropic of Cancer. Because the Sun goes farthest north in the sky around the Solstice, the days leading up to it have the longest daylight of the year.
Summer Solstice celebrations
A number of ancient celebrations are associated with the June Solstice. People used the day to organise calendars and farmers marked the day with sowing or harvesting of crops. Many historians say, Stonehenge, a prehistoric monument in England, is evidence of humans using June Solstice as a way of setting the time of the year. Even now, tourists and locals visit Stonehenge to watch the sunrise on Summer Solstice.
According to timeanddate.com, "In ancient China, the Summer Solstice was observed by a ceremony to celebrate the Earth, femininity, and the 'yin' forces. It complemented the Winter Solstice that celebrated the heavens, masculinity and 'yang' forces."
In Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, Summer Solstice is a time of midsummer night festivities. This is the time when countries near the Arctic enjoy the Midnight Sun. People dance around the Maypoles and bonfires. Homes are lit up and decorated with violets and vanilla flowers.
