Here comes the longest day of the year! The beginning of summer!
Since a long time ago in Human History, at this time of year, or more precisely, on the days when the Sun ("sol") seems to stop in the sky ("sistere"), some kind of celebration takes place. In the northern hemisphere, the longest day of the year (not in total hours, but in the total time the Sun remains above the horizon line), happens between June 20th and 22nd of each year (this year will be the June 21th). It is called "Summer Solstice".
This is a time when many societies celebrate the harvest season, taking from the earth what it gives us to subsist as a species. It is thus a time to celebrate the fertility of the earth. For a long time, rituals - sacred and profane - of fertility cults take place all over the world. And even without any direct or indirect contact between different societies, these rituals emerged and spread autonomously, perpetuating themselves over time.
All over the world, in societies where religion played an important role in their daily life and course, these pagan festivities were "appropriated" and "absorbed" by celebrations of a religious nature. This also happened in our society, in Portugal, where the Catholic Church's cult of one of its saints - St. John the Baptist, regarded as the prophet who preceded and baptized Jesus Christ - incorporated the traditional pagan festivities of the Solstice season, making “São João” (Saint John) festivities, namely in the city of Porto - but not only - one of the most popular festivities.
“Over a year, the subsolar point – the point on the Earth's surface directly below the Sun – moves slowly along a north-south axis. Having reached its southernmost point on the December solstice, it stops and starts moving north until it crosses the equator on the day of the March equinox. On the June solstice, which marks the northernmost point of its journey, it stops again to begin its journey back south.
This is how the solstices got their name: the term comes from the Latin words "sol" and "sistere", which mean "Sun" and "stand still".
Initially, the nomenclature arose from observations of how the Sun's apparent path across the sky changes slightly from day to day, which is caused by the same process of subsolar point motion described above.
In the months leading up to the June solstice, the position of sunrise and sunset moves north. On the day of the solstice, it reaches its most northerly point. After that, the Sun's daily path across the sky begins to drag south again.»
(in National Geographic)
Marco Moura Marques
+351 967 035 966
marco@mouramarques.pt
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