Midsummer, or the summer solstice, is the day
each year when the sun is directly over a point on the earth
which is closest to one of the poles. In the northern
hemisphere, summer solstice is on or near June 21 - "Down
Under" it's around December 22. In the temperate zones, it's
the "longest day" of the year, the day when sunshine hours
are longest and night is shortest. (At the equator, days and
nights are 12 and 12 year-round; over the poles, there is 24
hour daylight for 6 months.)
Since ancient times summer solstice was set
aside as a time for ritual and celebration by people
throughout the world. Native Americans, ancient Druids,
Incas of Peru, Egyptians, Chinese, and Africans are among
the civilizations who have left artifacts which were
designed to help determine the time of the solstice. While
Christianity does not celebrate the solstice as such, June
24 (the solstice according to the Roman calendar) is
designated the Feast of St. John the Baptist and is
celebrated with bonfires, just as the solstice was
celebrated in northern regions before Christianity was
introduced.
With the advent of electric lights, central heat, and
worldwide transport of fresh foodstuffs, along with general
migration into cities, modern people often have lost sight
of our intimacy with nature, its cycles and seasons. Yet
though we may not consciously notice their progress,
nonetheless as creatures of the earth we are affected in all
aspects of our lives by the passage of the seasons. Our
forebears, living close to nature, understood that.
As an agricultural event, the summer solstice is the day
with the most sun, and is also the approximate mid-point of
the growing season. In earlier times people celebrated the
sun and also did rituals intended to influence mother nature
and the gods to provide an abundant harvest. Always
associated with fertility, Midsummer is a popular time for
weddings. In earlier times people often leaped over the
bonfires for fertility and for luck.