Holiday History
By John Copeland
In just a couple of days it’s going to be Midsummer, on June 21.
Forty-three years ago I was living in London, just starting my career in the entertainment industry. Back then, I used every opportunity to visit most of the ancient sites in the British Isles. That June, I trekked out to Stonehenge to experience the Midsummer Solstice.
Back then, Stonehenge did not have all the security precautions there are today. Off to the southeast side of Stonehenge was a festive encampment of vibrant tents, caravans and colorful people from all over the planet. My friends and I were able to pitch our tent next to a small stand of trees that hid three barrow mounds.
Barrows are Bronze Age tombs. As the sun set, with Celtic music drifting from the encampment, I wandered through the long shadows of the trees, wondering what people made these and who was so special to be entombed here.
As night fell and the moon rose, I was drawn along with others toward the ancient circle of stones. I felt like I was part of an ancient celebration that had been observed for thousands of years celebrating the great power of the sun. I stood silent for some time, taking in the full moon illuminating the standing stones of Stonehenge. My photographs from that evening still bring back the feeling of that night.
Of course, the next morning we were all up before the dawn to catch the sunrise over the heel stone. But the morning was foggy, and the congregation of “modern Druids” couldn’t quite figure out when to do their sunrise ceremony. I didn’t mind the fog; it made everything a little more magical.
I’ll be thinking about that this week — on Thursday, June 21 — at 10:07 a.m. GMT (in the UK), which will be 3:07 a.m. in Santa Ynez. (Okay, so maybe I’ll be dreaming about it.)
Cultures around the world all have had markers, holidays and alignments, all related to the solstice. Since prehistoric times people have celebrated the summer solstice. It has been universal among humans to treasure this time of warmth and light.
Just like today, in the distant past, summer was a joyous time of the year, particularly if you lived in the northern latitudes. The snow had disappeared, temperatures were warming, flowers were blooming and leaves had returned to the deciduous trees. The crops were already planted and harvest was still a few months off.
For our ancestors, this time of year, between planting and harvest, was the traditional month for weddings. This tradition arose because many ancient peoples believed that May was the romantic time of year for the gods and goddesses. Since it was unlucky to compete with the deities, couples delayed their weddings until June. Even today, June remains a favorite month for marriages.
June is also the time when beehives are rich with honey and it is time to harvest them. In some cultural traditions, newlywed couples were fed dishes and beverages that featured honey for the first month of their married life to encourage love and fertility. The surviving vestige of this tradition lives on in the name given to the time immediately following the wedding ceremony: the honeymoon.
At the time of the solstice, you’ll notice the early dawns and late sunsets, and the high arc of the sun across the sky each day. You might want to check out how high the sun appears in the sky at noon. If you do, be sure to look down at your noontime shadow. It will be your shortest of the year.
We may never comprehend the full significance of Stonehenge, but we do know that celebrating the solstice wasn’t isolated to just this part of the world.
Around the same time Stonehenge was being constructed in England, two great pyramids were built on Egyptian sands. If you stood at the Sphinx on June 21 and gazed toward the two pyramids, you’d see the sun set exactly between them. The earliest humans knew that the sun’s path across the sky, the length of daylight, and the location of the sunrise and sunset all shifted in a regular way throughout the year.
What really causes the solstice is the movement of Earth and its tilt on its axis. This 23.44-degree tilt results in constantly changing solar illumination on the different latitudes of Earth. The explanation is clear and easy to understand, yet the results are truly worth celebrating, for the varying flow of solar energy means everything to our lives.
As the name “Midsummer” suggests, the day is considered the height of the summer. Yet there is also an undertone of darkness in this celebration of summer daylight. While in older times people celebrated the power of the sun, they were also noting its decline. From now on, the hours of sunlight will decrease through the year.
Folks often ask, “Well, if June 21 is the longest day of the year, why is the hottest weather in late July and August?”
It’s because of “the lag of the seasons” and the same reason it’s hotter in the afternoon than noontime. Earth takes a while to warm up after a long winter.
Right now, ice and snow still blanket the ground in some places. Meltwater and rainwater have been percolating down through snow on tops of glaciers. But the runoff from glaciers isn’t as great now as it’ll be in another month, even though sunlight is striking the northern hemisphere most directly now.
The sun has to melt the ice and warm the oceans, and when that happens we experience sweltering summer heat.
So wait another month for the hottest weather. It’ll come when the days are already beginning to shorten again, as Earth continues moving in orbit around the sun, bringing us closer to another winter.
