Summer Day's Song

June is a month of beginnings and endings. It is the end of spring and the beginning of summer; the end of the school year and the beginning of vacation; the end of the march of the amount of daylight in each day to its peak and the beginning of the decreases that will slowly but surely take us to the shortest day of the year.

When the Earth's axial tilt is closest to the sun at its maximum of 23° 26', the rays of the sun will be perpendicular to the Tropic of Cancer at 23°30' North latitude. In the Northern Hemisphere, that will happen on June 21 2010 at 4:28 am PDT, the day of the year with the longest period of daylight and the shortest period of darkness, the rays of the sun perpendicular to the Tropic of Cancer at 23°30' North latitude.

For centuries, civilizations have been awed by the great power of the sun and celebrated the first day of summer, otherwise known as Summer Solstice, Midsummer, St. John's Day, or the Wiccan Litha. Native Americans often held rituals and dances to honor the Sun. The Celts & Slavs celebrated the first day of summer with dancing & bonfires to help increase the sun's energy. The Chinese marked the day by honoring Li, the Chinese Goddess of Light. The Druids' celebrated the day as the "wedding of Heaven and Earth", which has resulted in the present day belief of a "lucky" wedding in June.

In Bellingham, the sun will rise Monday morning at 5:07 am and will set that evening at 9:16 pm, for a total of 16hrs 10min full daylight. If you count civil twilight which begins at 4:24 am and ends at 9:58 pm, the daylight hours stretch out to 17 hours 34 min.

A mere instant in time, Summer Solstice is here and gone. Solstice derives from a combination of Latin words meaning "sun" and "to stand still." As the days lengthen, the sun rises higher and higher until it seems to stand still in the sky. As a gardener, I celebrate Summer Solstice knowing I am but the caretaker and the sun is the provider.