Summer Solstice 2011,Summer Solstice 2011 Timing,Summer Solstice,Summer Solstice,Overview of the Summer Solstice,The First Day Of Summer Summer Solstice

Tag : Summer Solstice 2011,Summer Solstice,Summer Solstice,Overview of the Summer Solstice,The First Day Of Summer Summer Solstice,Summer Solstice 2011

Summer Solstice 2011 | Summer Solstice | Summer Solstice | Overview of the Summer Solstice | The First Day Of Summer Summer Solstice | Summer Solstice 2011

Sol + stice derives from a combination of Latin words meaning "sun" + "to stand still." As the days lengthen, the sun rises higher and higher until it seems to stand still in the sky.

in the Northern Hemisphere, summer solstice begins on Jun 21 2011 at 1:16 P.M. EDT

in the UK June 21, 2011 at 17:16 UTC

Let's pretend, for the moment, that you're the person standing on the Earth in the picture to the left, living in Topeka, Kansas, around 40° N latitude. The picture on the left shows the view from the solar system (upper panel), and from on the surface of the earth (lower panel). Notice that some of the same features are labelled on each panel.

As a major celestial event, the Summer Solstice results in the longest day and the shortest night of the year. The Northern Hemisphere celebrates in June, but the people on the Southern half of the earth have their longest summer day in December.

So in general, the northern hemisphere is getting more direct sunlight, which heats the Earth most efficiently, than the southern hemisphere. This is summer for people in the northern hemisphere. During the summer, the Sun is also above the horizon longer than it is during the winter. The summer solstice is the longest day of the year.

At this same time, the southern half of the Earth is tilted away from the Sun. If you were living in Neuquen, Argentina (roughly -40° S latitude) you would be bundled up for the winter.

How high the Sun gets in your sky, and how long it is above the horizon during the day, depend not only on the season, but also on your latitude.

Early Celebrations of Summer Solstice:

Awed by the great power of the sun, civilizations have for centuries celebrated the first day of summer otherwise known as the Summer Solstice, Midsummer (see Shakespeare), St. John's Day, or the Wiccan Litha.

The Celts & Slavs celebrated the first day of summer with dancing & bonfires to help increase the sun's energy. The Chinese marked the day by honoring Li, the Chinese Goddess of Light.

The upper panel shows that on the summer solstice (which occurs around June 21), the northern half of the Earth is tilted towards the Sun. Notice that the Sun is north of the equator. For you in Topeka, the altitude of the Sun at noon is 73.5°, which is pretty high in the sky. In fact, that is as high as the Sun ever gets at that latitude. It has been getting higher and higher in the sky since the winter solstice and through the vernal equinox. The bottom panel shows how the Sun moves through the sky for someone standing on the ground in Topeka.

Perhaps the most enduring modern ties with Summer Solstice were the Druids' celebration of the day as the "wedding of Heaven and Earth", resulting in the present day belief of a "lucky" wedding in June.

Today, the day is still celebrated around the world - most notably in England at Stonehenge and Avebury, where thousands gather to welcome the sunrise on the Summer Solstice.

Pagan spirit gatherings or festivals are also common in June, when groups assemble to light a sacred fire, and stay up all night to welcome the dawn.

Summer Solstice Fun Facts

Pagans 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.

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.

Stonehenge Solstice

Record numbers of people descended on Stonehenge this morning to mark the summer solstice. Despite the sun not making an appearance in an overcast sky, around 36,500 people enjoyed a carnival atmosphere at the ancient stone circle on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire. An eccentric mix of Morris dancers, pagans dressed in their traditional robes and musicians playing guitars and drums gathered alongside visitors from across the world. The event to mark the dawn of the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere has grown in popularity since a four-mile exclusion zone around the site was lifted nine years ago.

The good weather and the fact that the solstice fell over a weekend drew in the crowds from around 7pm last night. As the sun rose at 4.58am a cheer went up from those gathered at the stone circle. Bleary-eyed revellers wrapped in blankets, ponchos, cloaks and bin liners gathered at Heel Stone, the pillar at the edge of the prehistoric monument, to welcome the sunrise. English Heritage and Wiltshire police had anticipated the biggest turnout yet and had drafted in extra officers to patrol the site and to clamp down on anti-social behaviour and drugs.



Restrictions were placed on the amount of alcohol people could bring in, with security checks at the main entrance. But the event was a peaceful one with just 25 arrests overnight for minor public disorder and drug-related offences, a Wiltshire police spokesman said. Sam Edwards, from Wiltshire police, said: "We are very pleased everything went to plan. The atmosphere has been very good, especially around the stones. "Most people have been very co-operative with us and very understanding of the reasons for our presence.

An all-night party on a smaller scale took place a few miles from Stonehenge at the Avebury stone circle. Druid Jim Saunders, 33, from Reading, is a member of the Aes Dana Grove order. He said: "The significance of Stonehenge on the solstice to me is to do my best to educate as many people as possible in our culture. We carried out the Awen ritual in the circle by chanting to raise the energy and ask for peace and healing. There were 16 druids here today but only three of us made it into the circle. It is nice to see a lot of people here because there is no better place to learn about our culture and history. But it is upsetting to see so much litter, and some people can be disrespectful." He added: "Hopefully from the people we have spoken to today we can plant a seed of knowledge that will grow."



“As the sun spirals its longest dance,
Cleanse us
As nature shows bounty and fertility
Bless us
Let all things live with loving intent
And to fulfil their truest destiny “

Wiccan blessing for Summer

Solstice, Midsummer or Litha means a stopping or standing still of the sun. It is the longest day of the year and the time when the sun is at its maximum elevation. This date has had spiritual significance for thousands of years as humans have been amazed by the great power of the sun. The Celts celebrated with bonfires that would add to the sun's energy, Christians placed the feast of St John the Baptist towards the end of June and it is also the festival of Li, the Chinese Goddess of light.

For the Egyptians, the sun represented light, warmth, and growth. This made sun deities very important to Egyptians, and it is no coincidence that the sun came to be the ruler of all. In his myths, the sun was either seen as the body or eye of Ra.

Like other religious groups, Pagans are in awe of the incredible strength of the sun and the divine powers that create life. For Pagans this spoke in the Wheel of the Year is a significant point. The Goddess took over the earth from the horned God at the beginning of spring and she is now at the height of her power and fertility. For some Pagans the Summer Solstice marks the marriage of the God and Goddess and see their union as the force that creates the harvest's fruits.


Hypogeum, Malta

This is a time to celebrate growth and life but for Pagans, who see balance in the world and are deeply aware of the ongoing shifting of the seasons it is also time to acknowledge that the sun will now begin to decline once more towards winter. When celebrating midsummer Pagans draw on diverse traditions. In England thousands of Pagans and non-Pagans go to places of ancient religious sites such as Stonehenge and Avebury to see the sun rising on the first morning of summer.



New findings at Stonehenge suggest its stones were erected much earlier than thought, challenging the site's conventional history. A new excavation puts the stones' arrival at 3000 BC - almost 500 years earlier than originally thought - and suggests it was mainly a burial site. The latest results are from a dig by the Stonehenge Riverside Project. It is in conflict with recent research dating construction to 2300 BC and suggesting it was a healing centre. The 2300 BC date was arrived at by carbon dating and was the major finding from an excavation inside the henge by professors Tim Darvill and Geoff Wainwright who said:

"These stones were very closely associated with the remains of the dead. There were cremation burials from inside the holes holding the stones and also the areas around them." The archaeologists suggest that very early in Stonehenge's history there were 56 Welsh bluestones standing in a ring - 87m (285ft) across.


Newgrange, Ireland

What is common is a gap in our understanding of the peoples and cultures behind such Neolithic remains such as the remarkable collection of 46 tumuli (passage graves) around Newgrange in Ireland and the oldest and greatest Neolithic remains in Europe on the Island of Malta including at Gigantija on the island of Gozo the world’s oldest stone building.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/02/neolithic-malta.html

If there is one place you should see above all others when in Ireland it is the amazing place called Newgrange, a UNESCO World Heritage site which is older than the pyramids of Egypt. This is a truly special and unique place on the Island of Ireland, no more special than yesterday, 21st December, the Winter Solstice, the shortest and darkest day of the year. To ancient cultures this represented the turning of the year, the point after which the days lengthened and hope could be sustained of the rebirth of the land in spring and the fertility of summer and the bounty of the harvest to come.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/12/in-darkest-mid-winter.html

Saturnalia is the Roman Mid-Winter Feast which Christianity supplanted with Xmas.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/12/bona-saturnalia.html


Gigantija Temple, Malta

Stonehenge Solstice

Record numbers of people descended on Stonehenge this morning to mark the summer solstice. Despite the sun not making an appearance in an overcast sky, around 36,500 people enjoyed a carnival atmosphere at the ancient stone circle on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire. An eccentric mix of Morris dancers, pagans dressed in their traditional robes and musicians playing guitars and drums gathered alongside visitors from across the world. The event to mark the dawn of the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere has grown in popularity since a four-mile exclusion zone around the site was lifted nine years ago.

The good weather and the fact that the solstice fell over a weekend drew in the crowds from around 7pm last night. As the sun rose at 4.58am a cheer went up from those gathered at the stone circle. Bleary-eyed revellers wrapped in blankets, ponchos, cloaks and bin liners gathered at Heel Stone, the pillar at the edge of the prehistoric monument, to welcome the sunrise. English Heritage and Wiltshire police had anticipated the biggest turnout yet and had drafted in extra officers to patrol the site and to clamp down on anti-social behaviour and drugs.



Restrictions were placed on the amount of alcohol people could bring in, with security checks at the main entrance. But the event was a peaceful one with just 25 arrests overnight for minor public disorder and drug-related offences, a Wiltshire police spokesman said. Sam Edwards, from Wiltshire police, said: "We are very pleased everything went to plan. The atmosphere has been very good, especially around the stones. "Most people have been very co-operative with us and very understanding of the reasons for our presence.

An all-night party on a smaller scale took place a few miles from Stonehenge at the Avebury stone circle. Druid Jim Saunders, 33, from Reading, is a member of the Aes Dana Grove order. He said: "The significance of Stonehenge on the solstice to me is to do my best to educate as many people as possible in our culture. We carried out the Awen ritual in the circle by chanting to raise the energy and ask for peace and healing. There were 16 druids here today but only three of us made it into the circle. It is nice to see a lot of people here because there is no better place to learn about our culture and history. But it is upsetting to see so much litter, and some people can be disrespectful." He added: "Hopefully from the people we have spoken to today we can plant a seed of knowledge that will grow."



“As the sun spirals its longest dance,
Cleanse us
As nature shows bounty and fertility
Bless us
Let all things live with loving intent
And to fulfil their truest destiny “

Wiccan blessing for Summer

Solstice, Midsummer or Litha means a stopping or standing still of the sun. It is the longest day of the year and the time when the sun is at its maximum elevation. This date has had spiritual significance for thousands of years as humans have been amazed by the great power of the sun. The Celts celebrated with bonfires that would add to the sun's energy, Christians placed the feast of St John the Baptist towards the end of June and it is also the festival of Li, the Chinese Goddess of light.

For the Egyptians, the sun represented light, warmth, and growth. This made sun deities very important to Egyptians, and it is no coincidence that the sun came to be the ruler of all. In his myths, the sun was either seen as the body or eye of Ra.

Like other religious groups, Pagans are in awe of the incredible strength of the sun and the divine powers that create life. For Pagans this spoke in the Wheel of the Year is a significant point. The Goddess took over the earth from the horned God at the beginning of spring and she is now at the height of her power and fertility. For some Pagans the Summer Solstice marks the marriage of the God and Goddess and see their union as the force that creates the harvest's fruits.


Hypogeum, Malta

This is a time to celebrate growth and life but for Pagans, who see balance in the world and are deeply aware of the ongoing shifting of the seasons it is also time to acknowledge that the sun will now begin to decline once more towards winter. When celebrating midsummer Pagans draw on diverse traditions. In England thousands of Pagans and non-Pagans go to places of ancient religious sites such as Stonehenge and Avebury to see the sun rising on the first morning of summer.



New findings at Stonehenge suggest its stones were erected much earlier than thought, challenging the site's conventional history. A new excavation puts the stones' arrival at 3000 BC - almost 500 years earlier than originally thought - and suggests it was mainly a burial site. The latest results are from a dig by the Stonehenge Riverside Project. It is in conflict with recent research dating construction to 2300 BC and suggesting it was a healing centre. The 2300 BC date was arrived at by carbon dating and was the major finding from an excavation inside the henge by professors Tim Darvill and Geoff Wainwright who said:

"These stones were very closely associated with the remains of the dead. There were cremation burials from inside the holes holding the stones and also the areas around them." The archaeologists suggest that very early in Stonehenge's history there were 56 Welsh bluestones standing in a ring - 87m (285ft) across.


Newgrange, Ireland

What is common is a gap in our understanding of the peoples and cultures behind such Neolithic remains such as the remarkable collection of 46 tumuli (passage graves) around Newgrange in Ireland and the oldest and greatest Neolithic remains in Europe on the Island of Malta including at Gigantija on the island of Gozo the world’s oldest stone building.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/02/neolithic-malta.html

If there is one place you should see above all others when in Ireland it is the amazing place called Newgrange, a UNESCO World Heritage site which is older than the pyramids of Egypt. This is a truly special and unique place on the Island of Ireland, no more special than yesterday, 21st December, the Winter Solstice, the shortest and darkest day of the year. To ancient cultures this represented the turning of the year, the point after which the days lengthened and hope could be sustained of the rebirth of the land in spring and the fertility of summer and the bounty of the harvest to come.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/12/in-darkest-mid-winter.html

Saturnalia is the Roman Mid-Winter Feast which Christianity supplanted with Xmas.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/12/bona-saturnalia.html


Gigantija Temple, Malta