When it is the summer 2025 solstice

The summer solstice falls in the canonical date of June 21. The moment, because the solstice really is a thing of a moment, it is at 4 and 42, so the Italian dawn of traditional 21. This It is the day with more light than 2025from the following the days the days will already begin slowly to shorten until the winter solstice of 21 December, the shortest day there is.

The astronomical summer starts officially, the meteorological one started already at the beginning of the month. The day lasts between 15 and 16 hours depending on the areas of Italy. In the areas between the Arctic Polar Circle and the North Pole it will not set and it will be possible to see the midnight sun.

Solstice

The word solstice comes from Latin Solis Statioonly and stop. In astronomy is the moment when the sun reaches the maximum (summer) or minimum (winter) declination point compared to the earth. It is that moment in which the star reaches the highest point compared to the horizon and thus brings the highest number of hours of light.

The summer solstice is the longest day there is and consequently the shortest nightthat is, the day with more hours of light. The opposite for the winter. June and December are the months of the solstices for summer and winter in the north hemisphere. Everything is overturned if we talk about the southern hemisphere.

At the height of the polar circles on summer days the sun remains constantly above the horizon and there is light even in hours in which it would be night. It is the phenomenon of the midnight sun. In the locations along the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn the sun is at Zenit, perpendicular to the local South. Sunfight and no shadow.

Date

Every year the solstice falls at a different time and therefore can arrive, as well as the equinoxes, on different dates. It depends on the movement of the axis around which the Earth rotates. The shift causes a backward 6 hours every year that is reset with the bisestili years.

Traditions

The winter solstices, as in the summer, have always been considered sacred. The Sol Invictus is celebrated which is reborn from the darkness in the cold station and there is the pagan party Litha, one of the eight sands of the summer solstice. Beda the venerable and Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings write about it. There are solar cults from the North Pole to Polynesia, passing through Africa, Indonesia and South America. The ancient Romans linked this anniversary with the god Giano Bifronte and according to tradition, we had to bathe in natural water currents and jump on fires on to purify themselves.

Stonehenge

The monolithic stones of the British site of Stonehenge would be a sort of calendar as well as a temple. The axis of the monument is oriented so that the Sun arises at the summer solstice above the Heel Stone plant. This year it will not happen, but there are usually thousands of people who meet on the site for the occasion and in Sweden it was also thought of officially setting up the midsummer party. There is also an older Stonehenge than a thousand years. It is Nabta Playa, in Egypt, which has a site with monoliths aligned in the direction of the sunrise in the date of the solstice.