(Nation World News) – Do you feel a stir in your heart? Maybe a jump in your libido? Heck, are you just plain ol’ getting hot and bothered?
The solstice is historically associated with fertility – both the plant and human variety – in destinations around the world.
Summer Solstice: Q&A
Istanbul’s famous Hagia Sophia and surrounding gardens will enjoy 15 hours and seven minutes a day on the solstice.
Chris McGraw/Getty Images
Question: I like accuracy. Absolutely When is summer solstice in 2022?
Answer: The answer depends on where you are during the solstice.
Here’s how 09:13 UTC coincides with local time in select locations around the world (and watch the time progress as we move from east to west):
• Guam: Tuesday at 7:13 pm
• Tokyo, Japan: Tuesday at 6:13 pm
• Manila, Philippines: Tuesday at 5:13 pm
• Dhaka, Bangladesh: Tuesday at 3:13 pm
• Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Tuesday at 1:13 pm
• Istanbul, Turkey: Tuesday at 12:13 pm
• Brussels, Belgium: Tuesday at 11:13 am
• Casablanca, Morocco: Tuesday at 10:13 am
• Recife, Brazil: Tuesday at 6:13 am
• Boston, Massachusetts: Tuesday at 5:13 am
• Guadalajara, Mexico: Tuesday at 4:23 am
• Calgary, Canada: Tuesday morning 3:13 am
• Seattle, Washington: Tuesday at 2:13 a.m.
• Honolulu, Hawaii: Monday at 11:13 am
People celebrate the summer solstice in Glastonbury, southwest England, on June 21, 2021.
Peter Zibora/Reuters
Question: It’s the longest day of the year — and it happens all over the world?
Answer: No. It is the longest day only in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the shortest day of the year south of the equator. Residents of the Southern Hemisphere – in places like Argentina, South Africa and New Zealand – are about to welcome a three-month winter.
And you make a difference in how much daylight you get when you get closer to the poles and farther from the equator.
In Ecuador’s capital, Quito, barely north of the equator, people barely notice the difference. They get an average of seven minutes of extra time in daylight.
But residents of northern Helsinki, Finland, will get a 3:54 a.m. sunrise and nearly 19 hours of daylight. That night was not even dark.
Residents of Fairbanks in central interior Alaska can scoff at those 19 hours. They will get 21 hours and 41 minutes of daylight.
As for the poor penguins guarding their eggs in Antarctica – if they could talk, they could tell you a lot about living in 24 hours of darkness.
This NASA photo shows the summer solstice from 2018. Note the angle of the terminator (the line between day and night). This tilt exposes the Northern Hemisphere to more direct sunlight than the Southern Hemisphere.
NOAA
Question: Why don’t we get just 12 hours of light all year round?
“As the Earth revolves around the Sun [once each year], its inclined axis always points in the same direction. Therefore, throughout the year, different parts of the Earth receive direct rays of the Sun,” according to NASA.
When the Sun reaches its peak in the Northern Hemisphere, it is the summer solstice.
Erotic Traditions: Midsummer in Sweden
In Sweden, the summer solstice is celebrated during midsummer. The holiday is marked with romantic rituals.
Carolina Romare/imagebank.sweden.se
Now let’s turn our attention to what really On our minds: The romantic and sexy side of the solstice. We will start in Sweden.
Their traditions include dancing around a maypole – a symbol seen by some as a phallic. They also feast on herring and vodka (whether that’s romantic or not is probably a matter of personal preference).
“A lot of babies are born nine months after midsummer in Sweden,” Swedish ethnographer Jan-Ujvind Swan told Nation World News before his death in 2016.
“Drinking is the most common summer season tradition. There are historical photos of people drinking wine where they can’t go anymore,” Swan said.
While libations have a hand in the subsequent baby boom, Swann points out that even without alcohol, midsummer is a time rich in romantic ritual.
“There used to be a tradition among unmarried girls, where if they ate something very salty during midsummer, or collected many different types of flowers and placed them under their pillows while sleeping, they could lose their future. husbands,” she said. ,
pagan rites in greece
In Greece, the summer solstice is celebrated on St. John’s Day. In some parts of the north, the locals celebrate with a custom called Clidonus. Part of the rituals of the day include making a bonfire.
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There is a similar legend in some parts of Greece about dreaming of their future spouses. There, as in many European countries, the pagan solstice was co-opted by Christianity and rebranded as St. John’s Day. Nevertheless, in many villages in the north of the country, the ancient rites are still observed.
One of the oldest rituals is called Clidonus, and involves local virgins collecting water from the sea.
The unmarried women of the village would place a personal item in the pot and leave it overnight under a fig tree, where – in folklore – the magic of the day fills the items with prophetic powers, and the girls dream of their future. are husband
The next day, all the women of the village gather, and take turns taking out the objects and reciting rhyming couplets that are meant to predict the romantic fate of the object’s owner. These days, however, the festival is an excuse for the community of women to exchange lewd jokes.
“In my village, old women always come up with the filthiest rhymes,” says Eleni Fanariotou, who filmed the custom. Later in the day, the lingas mingle and jump over a bonfire.
Whoever manages to jump over the flames three times, his wish is fulfilled. Fanariotou said that the festival often results in coupling.
“It’s a great time to meet someone, because all the young people in the village go, and it’s a good opportunity to socialize. Plus, all the men like to show off and light the biggest fire they can jump into.”
a slavic cupid
Kupala Night celebrations are popular in Poland.
Artur Widak/NurPhoto/ Associated Press
In Eastern Europe, the summer solstice is associated with Ivan Kupala Day – a holiday with romantic connotations for many Slavs (“Kupala” is derived from the same word as “Cupid”). It’s also called Kupala Night (love doesn’t stick to a strict timetable, apparently).
“It was once believed that Kupala night was a time for people to fall in love, and that those who celebrate it would be happy and prosperous all year round,” recalls Agnieszka Bigaj from the Polish Tourist Board.
It used to be that young, unmarried women floated garlands of flowers in the river, with eager bachelors on the other side trying to grab the flowers. he said.
According to Polish folklore, the man and woman in question would become a couple. Bonfires are also a great feature of the holiday, and it is a tradition for a couple to hold hands and leap through the flames – if they do not let go, it is said that their love will last.
Yoga in India and beyond
Yogis participate in the Sankranti in Times Square event in 2021.
Timothy A. CLARIE / AFP / GETTY IMAGES
Few things get you in touch with your mind and body like yoga does.
In India, the birthplace of the ancient practice, the summer solstice is traditionally celebrated with mass yoga sessions throughout the country, the second most populous country in the world.
And these days, yoga has taken over the world.
traditions in china
It was called “chaozi” and “the women gave each other colored fans and pouches. The fans could have helped them not feel so hot and the pouches were meant to drive away mosquitoes and give them a sweet smell.”
stonehenge
The mysterious Stonehenge has fascinated people for many centuries.
Courtesy English Heritage
One of the most notable solstice celebrations in the world has traditionally taken place at Stonehenge, England, where thousands of people usually gather each year. Like many other events of 2020-21, they had to call it off due to the pandemic.
Dating back to druid and pagan times, Stonehenge has a mystical charm.
“All Druid rituals have an element of fertility, and the solstice is no exception,” King Arthur Pendragon, a senior archaeologist, told Nation World News. “We celebrate the union of the male and female deities – the sun and the earth – on the longest day of the year.”
Top image: Swimmers walk back from the sea after the summer solstice plunge on June 21, 2021 in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, England. (Photo by Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)
Some of this article was excerpted from a Nation World News story first published in 2013 by Daisy Carrington.
