Summer Solstice is (almost) here!

Here's how & why to celebrate

The solstice will occur this week on Thursday, June 20th.

Before we dive in, let’s have a little refresher course on the four points of the year:

• Vernal Equinox: aka the start of Spring, when day and night are equal in length. Before that, the days are shorter; after this point, they get longer.

• Summer Solstice (YOU ARE HERE): As the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, this moment marks the start of summer. After this date, the days will get shorter again

• Autumn Equinox: Another moment when the day and night are equal in length, yet this one marks the start of Autumn. The days will keep getting shorter until…

• Winter Solstice: The shortest day of the year. After this point, the days will begin to lengthen again.

So, we’re almost at the Summer solstice, meaning we’ve made it through the first half of 2024! Thursday represents the pinnacle of the year, the moment when the growing daylight reaches its culmination.

For the ancients, at least this far north, this was a huge cause for celebration because it meant they were in the clear to have a good time without freezing to death. People threw massive celebrations where they lit bonfires to amplify the Sun’s power to ensure a steady growing season and proper harvest. As I learned from this witchy podcast, many people got married during this time of year, and still do. Case in point: 

Jamie and I celebrating our late Spring/early Summer wedding :P

This will be a very dramatic solstice for me because it will be the longest day of my life. Here in Edinburgh, the sunset has been creeping steadily forward, and as I write this (on June 18th), the Sun will set at 10:02 pm. But it doesn’t really get dark after that, as it takes a while for dusk to settle in. This means that it is still light-ish out well after 11:00 pm (and blackout curtains are a must). Similarly, the sun rose at 4:26 am today, but a trip to the kitchen at 3:30 am allowed me to take a peek at the violet sky of twilight.

In any case, this is a great opportunity to celebrate the fact that we made it through the darkest time of the year. Whether you stay out late to play with your friends, have a picnic in the park among the flowers, take a dip in the ocean, wake up at sunrise to do a Sun salutation, or frolic outside late enough into the evening to watch the sunset, take the time to honor how far you’ve come and what you’d still like to do with the second half of 2024.