Summer Solstice

Today is the first day of summer or the day of the summer solstice.  

It is the longest day with more sunlight, the further north we would go in the Northern Hemisphere. My daughter is in Sweden right now and she emailed: it gets light around 3:00AM and the sun does not go down until midnight. This same pattern is true for the US, Canada, Europe, Central America and Asia.

Sol + stice comes from the Latin word sun and to stand still. When the days get longer during June, the sun rises higher and higher and then seems to stand still in the sky.

Many places in the world are celebrating the summer solstice in June while the Southern hemisphere celebrates their summer solstice in December. The most popular place of celebration is in Stonehenge, Great Britain. This morning more than 20,000 people gathered there to greet the sun and welcomed summer. Other celebrations  are more religiously originated.

Nonetheless, the sun is our most powerful source of light and energy. Enjoy it is often and get the benefit of natural vitamin D. It does the body good and strengthens your bones. If you want to learn more about the astronomical facts of the summer solstice, you can follow that link. 

Otherwise, just enjoy summer and all its benefits of outdoors, fun and sunshine.