This year the summer solstice – assuming you live in the UK – will be on the 21^st of June, with the sunrise scheduled to be visible at 4:46 am, assuming we don’t have cloud cover, or even worse, it rains.

The summer solstice is when midsummer occurs and the northern hemisphere is at its most extreme tilt toward the sun, thus the longest day of the year. So, in the arctic circle there is complete summer sunshine and no sunset.

The day of the summer solstice has for many years been a significant part of our heritage and celebration for at least several thousand years of modern civilised development in the British Isles. This June there will be the usual crowd of druid worshipers surrounding Stone Henge and watching the morning rays of sun light – again, assuming there is no cloud cover - through the ancient stone masonry, then cheering, clapping, praying, and dancing will begin.

Here in the British Isles, we still have an ancient religious gathering that worships the event.  As already mentioned, they are known as Druids. Ironically, the midsummer sunrise at Stone Henge, marks the only day when the rising sun precisely and somewhat artistically, reaches the middle of the stones, shining on the formation’s central alter. This is a spectacle of precise and rare occurrence and as the Druid movement has always been about the synergy between us and the natural world, this is a perfect time to showcase the harmony between man’s worshiping of the rising sun and the laborious effort needed in the construction of religious stone monolith circles to celebrate and inculpate that specific, fleeting event. In fact, there are many such circles dotted around the British Isles, when many people would trek days and weeks to attend those religious ceremonies, thousand of years ago. One such place a number of these circles can be found is in Orkney (an archipelago off the northeast coast of the UK), where the oldest preserved stone age village is to be found amongst many remaining circles. And as the summer sun stays up longer in Orkney, the event is a bit more spectacular and lasts a little longer.

Since prehistoric times, the summer solstice was seen as a significant time of the year, well before we were able to chronicle or register the event with stone monoliths, and something in us knows the significance and enjoys it.

In Denmark is it a tradition to burn an effigy of a witch. While during ancient Greek celebrations, known as the festival of Kronia, the hierarchical structures of every day social life were traditionally abandoned and all – at least on the face of it – for a day, everyone who celebrated was equal. No matter where you are in the northern hemisphere, we share a fascination, culture, and pre-historic love of the longest day. Bonfires are traditionally light in Austria, and the perfect alignment of the stone structures of the Aztec culture of yesteryear, or the paintings in ancient European caves, give chronological evidence that we have been drawn to this special day long before we understood the celestial reason for the event.

Spare a thought for those in the Southern hemisphere because this is the winter solstice and will see the shortest day of sun and light for the year. Although this takes us to the winter solstice celebrations and a whole other matter.

But, if you’re in the southern or northern hemisphere, this day has always had something special about to celebrate and the special is that which makes us feel insignificant and more likely to celebrate and that is the power and orbital pull of the sun.

So, this June 21^st, enjoy the unique, long, celestial event