“Twice during the solar year, the sun appears to rise and set in the same place for several days.” – Steven D. Farmer (Earth Magic Oracle Cards)

Ah…summertime in the Northern Hemisphere. Who doesn’t look forward to the longer days and warmer nights? The long, lazy days of summer, where we have BBQ’s, beach parties, river trips, lake boating, hiking and camping. As kids, we are touched with faint memories of being out of school with no responsibility, except playing with our friends in the sprinklers and staying up late. It’s a time of fun and celebration.

The Summer Solstice, also known as midsummer, usually occurs between June 20-22nd each year and it marks the longest day and shortest night of the year. In most places on the Northern Hemisphere, daylight stretches to 17 hours, while the night shrinks to only 7 hours.

Because of the Earth’s rotational axis of 23.4 °, in the Northern Hemisphere, the sun’s rays are directly over the Tropic of Cancer and the North Celestial Pole has its maximum tilt towards the sun. It is exactly the opposite for the Winter Solstice, where the sun’s rays are over the Tropic of Capricorn and the South Celestial Pole has maximum tilt towards the sun. It is why our seasons are swapped with the Southern Hemisphere.

This occurrence marks the first day of summer in the North. In Latin, solstice means “sun standing still,” where it appears like the sun is rising and setting in the same place for several days in a row, and was one of the first astronomical events observed by humans. Historically, this was a marker for humans to determine when to plant and harvest crops. It was a time of celebrations, associated with life, abundance, nature and the sun.

Ancient Structures

There are multiple structures around the world that have been built by ancient cultures, who made these creations to align directly with the sun’s rays on the day of the solstice.

One of the most famous is Stonehenge, located in Wiltshire, England. It is a circle of standing stones and is designed to show the summer solstice sunrise aligning perfectly with a circle carved in one the stones.

The Ring of Brodgar, on the Orkney Islands of Scotland, also known the Temple of the Sun, align with the sunset and sunrise on the solstices.

The Grange Stone Circle at Lough Gur, in Ireland, is aligned with the rising sun of the summer solstice.

In Chichén Itzá on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, there are pyramids, and the central pyramid of El Castillo is bathed, on the summer solstice, in pure sunlight on one side and full shadow on the other.

Also on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, Tulum is an ancient Mayan stone walled city, where one of the stone buildings has a small hole at the top that creates a starburst effect when the sun rises on the summer and winter solstices.

There are two stone lines that frame the Cerro del Gentil pyramid in Peru, where the solstice sun sets exactly where the lines converge on the pyramid in the horizon.

Chaco Canyon, in Northwestern New Mexico in the US, has sandstone buildings, constructed by the Pueblo natives. When the sun rises over a pointed butte on the morning of the summer solstice, a pictograph is illuminated by a beam of light on one of the buildings.

In Wyoming, in the US, the Sioux natives, built a stone medicine wheel that aligned with the sunrise and sunset of the Summer Solstice.

Ancient Rituals and Festivals

Ancient cultures have celebrated this particular time all over the world, all honoring the same things: life, abundance and fertility.

The ancient Romans celebrated Vestalia, a religious festival in honor of Vesta, goddess of the hearth. For eight days, only then were barefoot married women allowed in the temple to bring sacrifices of food to honor the goddess. At the end of the festival, the Vestal Virgins entered to clean up the debris and dispose of it in the Tiber River.

The ancient Greeks celebrated the festival of Kronia and would honor Cronus, the god of agriculture, by giving slaves equal rights for the day and even being served by their masters. This day was marked as the first day of the year and also the month long countdown to the Olympic games.

In ancient China, the summer solstice was when the Yang (masculine) was at it fullest. After the longest day, Yin (feminine) energy would start entering the season in which fertility was celebrated with various rituals, and the feminine Earth honored.

The Vikings would settle important legal matters on this day, and visit wells thought to have healing powers. They would build huge bonfires in order to boost the sun’s energy to ensure a good harvest.

Germanic, Celtic and Slavic Europeans celebrated around a bonfire launching themselves over the fire to purify the soul by burning away impurities. They also wore protective garlands of herbs and flowers to ward off evil spirits.

Many Native Americans celebrated with various rituals, including sun gazing dances. Among them where the Sioux, who danced around a sacred cottonwood tree, which symbolized the connection between the heavens and Earth, while the sunrise and sunset aligned with a stone medicine wheel they built.

By the time I was in my early 20s, a group of six of us celebrated the change of the seasons. My mother was the Lead Matron of this group. Oftentimes, we would invite others to join us, but it was basically a core group of six people. Only three of us were blood related, but my mother always said family was who you chose to be close to.

On the Summer Solstice, we would build a large fire, drink mead and ale, garnish ourselves with flowers and celebrate, making wishes for the coming three months. We always joked about dancing naked around the fire, but we never did.

I continued this tradition while I was married with my husband and two daughters, while they grew up. We would save our live Christmas tree for six months, creating a completion of winter to summer, waiting for it to completely dry up and then start the fire with it. We added to the ritual by writing down our wishes, and throwing the paper into the bonfire.

We lived way out in the country and our bonfire area was next to acres and acres of diary cow pastures. We had many bonfires throughout the year, but every single summer solstice, for some strange reason, the diary cows would all be attracted to this fire and stand around the fence in a semi-circle the entire time we were out there. It was such a strange occurrence, that I truly believe it was because the time of the year. Animals are extremely perceptive to the seasons and I feel they somehow knew it was a significant time.

Easy things to do to celebrate the Summer Solstice are the following: spend time in nature, make a flower and herb garland; build an outside fire and throw herbs in it, or light your fireplace in your home; burn an orange candle; take a bath with salts, essential oils and flower petals; bake honey cakes; or be romantic with a partner–since its a celebration of life, abundance and fertility!

Thank you for reading. xoxo