Skip to content

Our Digital Dust

Reflections on three fathers' experience and lives for our kids

June 21, 2017 – Summer is Here

admin June 21, 2017 No Comments

Summer is officially here and it’s not just school-age kids who love its arrival.  The summer solstice has been celebrated as a holiday for over 2000 years. It is the longest day of the year and was/is the source of many festivals worldwide. For the language geeks reading the blog, the word “solstice” is from the Latin word solstitium, which literally means, “sun stands still.” It was such a popular event that whomever built Stonehenge oriented the stones to highlight the rising  sun on the morning of the summer solstice.

Early Christian monks recorded how the Celts celebrated the solstice or midsummer, by lighting huge bonfires on hills and dancing all night – sounds like spring break! Later when the Saxon’s arrived on the British Isles, they continued the Celtic tradition. Even the Vikings adopted (or the Celts adopted the Viking tradition – there is controversy) the practice.

Earlier, Romans celebrated the event as a feast to the goddess  Juno, the wife of Jupiter, who was the goddess of women and childbirth. They named the month, June, in her honor. Juno was also the patron of marriage, which explains why many early weddings were in June.  Even earlier was the celebration by Zoroastrians of the midsummer day, which celebrates the power of sun and fire. Those two were obviously very important to early societies.

This day has been special for millennia, for myriad reasons. So whatever makes it special for you, take time to appreciate the extra sunlight and get outside. I’ll be barbecuing something tasty this weekend and enjoying  the extra sunlight with a fermented beverage. Happy solstice to you all!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Daily Post

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

June 2017
M T W T F S S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
2627282930  
« May   Jul »

Recent Posts

  • Lent, Life, and Liberty
  • February 15, 2021 – Dingo Dogs, Moose, and Retirement
  • February 10, 2021 – Sweetness
  • Stop Me If You’ve Heard This Before…
  • January 24, 2021 – Carpe Annos Singulos (Seize the Year!)

Recent Comments

  • ROBERT HALE on February 10, 2021 – Sweetness
  • Bob Hale on Stop Me If You’ve Heard This Before…
  • June Hale on January 3, 2021 – We are back for 2021!
  • June Hale on January 3, 2021 – We are back for 2021!
  • Bob Hale on Welcome to a New Year?

Archives

  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • April 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017

Our Twitter Feed

Follow @@ourdigitaldust

Digital Dust
@ourdigitaldust

  • We have a new post at #ourdigitaldust! New post: Lent, Life, and Liberty https://t.co/ZaH7BcXQ2u
    about 1 week ago
  • We have a new post at #ourdigitaldust! New post: February 15, 2021 – Dingo Dogs, Moose, and Retirement https://t.co/CA7u1k9ejn
    about 2 weeks ago
  • We have an updated post at #ourdigitaldust! Post Edited: February 10, 2021 – Sweetness https://t.co/mhcyfJNaNt
    about 3 weeks ago
  • We have a new post at #ourdigitaldust! New post: Sweetness https://t.co/mhcyfJNaNt
    about 3 weeks ago
  • We have an updated post at #ourdigitaldust! Post Edited: Stop Me If You’ve Heard This Before… https://t.co/SgIcjSPXk8
    about 4 weeks ago
  • We have a new post at #ourdigitaldust! New post: Stop Me If You’ve Heard This Before… https://t.co/SgIcjSPXk8
    about 4 weeks ago
  • We have an updated post at #ourdigitaldust! Post Edited: January 24, 2021 – Carpe Annos Singulos (Seize the Year!) https://t.co/RUSFg3hOVa
    about 1 month ago
  • We have a new post at #ourdigitaldust! New post: January 24, 2021 – Carpe Annos Singulos (Seize the Year!) https://t.co/RUSFg3hOVa
    about 1 month ago
  • We have a new post at #ourdigitaldust! New post: A New Day https://t.co/TyMm5AMnEp
    about 1 month ago
  • We have a new post at #ourdigitaldust! New post: Welcome to a New Year? https://t.co/xdeWTPs78Q
    about 2 months ago
Copyright © 2021. Our Digital Dust
Powered By WordPress and Silver Quantum