Hendricks Gin Midsummer Solstice Limited Edition Gin, 70 cl

Product Information

a b Hill, Christopher (2003). Holidays and Holy Nights: Celebrating Twelve Seasonal Festivals of the Christian Year. Quest Books. p.163. ISBN 9780835608107. At the ancient monument of Stonehenge, in the English county of Wiltshire, many people gather to observe the sunrise alignment with the stones on the summer solstice. The data is arranged geographically and within the tables from the longest day to the shortest one. Times that occur the next day (21 June) are marked with +. Bal Nowrooz, meaning 'the fire of Nowrooz', is the name of a festival celebrated on the first day of 'Our Nowrooz' and this is the first day of Daylaman New Year.

Midsummer tradition is also especially strong in northern areas of the country, such as Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country, where one can easily identify the rituals that reveal the pagan beliefs widespread throughout Europe in Neolithic times. These beliefs pivot on three basic ideas: the importance of medicinal plants, especially in relation to health, youth and beauty; the protective character of fire to ward men off evil spirits and witches and, finally, the purifying, miraculous effects of water. What follows is a summary of Galician traditions surrounding St. John's festival in relation to these three elements. Finland [ edit ] Midsummer bonfire in Seurasaari. Bonfires are very common in Finland, where many people spend their midsummer in the countryside outside towns. The evening is marked with bonfires throughout the country, in both the large cities and small towns. Typically, there are speeches held at the the lighting of the bonfire, then songs. The most traditional is “Vi Elsker Vort Land” (We Love Our Country), written in 1885 by Holger Drachmann.a b Tornabuoni, Lucrezia (2001). Sacred Narratives. University of Chicago Press. p. 216. ISBN 9780226808529.

In Porto and Braga St. John's is celebrated in the streets, where many normally frowned-upon things are permitted. People carry a plant of flowering leek ( alho-porro, which has a pungent smell) with them, and run it over the face of other people. [63] Starting in 1963, people have also carried a small plastic hammer which they use to bang their neighbors over the head. [64] The tradition is that St. John was a scalliwag in his youth and the people hit him on the head with the garlic saying "return to the right path". Bonfires have been a way to celebrate Midsummer since the Viking age, when they were lit to ward off evil spirits for the coming harvest season. The tilt of the Earth produces the seasons, including the changes in weather associated with them. When the northern hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun, it receives more direct sunlight and for a longer portion of the day, so the temperature increases. Similarly in winter, the reduction in sunlight hours and more glancing angle to the Sun means the air remains colder. The summer solstice was called Ukon juhla ("Ukko's celebration") after the Finnish god Ukko. After the celebrations were Christianized, the holiday became known as juhannus after John the Baptist (Finnish: Johannes Kastaja). The date also marks the end of harvest for spring vegetables such as asparagus ("Spargelsilvester") [51] or for rhubarb.

Rebecca Thandi Norman

Stonehenge, the world-famous 5,000-year-old stone monument in Wiltshire, continues to mystify experts and the public alike. The builders left no written records, so the purpose and meaning of its construction can only be theorised. One thing is certain though – when the sun rises on the longest day of the year, the stones of Stonehenge line up perfectly with the incoming rays. But why was it built to do this? Marks the traditional middle of summer, beginning of Meteorological summer, and the nativity of St. John the Baptist.

As the state of Alaska, northernmost state in the nation, straddles the Arctic Circle, midsummer is a time when most of the state is in daylight or civil twilight the entire day. The Midnight Sun Game is an annual tradition in the city of Fairbanks, in which a regulation game of baseball is played at 10:30p.m. local time, through the midnight hour, with no artificial lighting. Scandinavians celebrate Midsummer in a variety of ways, but most celebrations include a bonfire and are outdoors. Midsummer is the longest day of the year, so Scandinavians are celebrating the long days of natural light, as well as the turning of the season; after Midsummer, the days become shorter. In earlier times, small spires wrapped in greens were erected; this probably predates the maypole tradition, which is believed by many to have come from the continent in the Middle Ages. Midsummer Eve 2023 is on Friday, 23 June. It's always celebrated on a Friday between 19 and 25 June. Why do you celebrate Midsummer? Yeats, William Butler (19 May 2015). A Vision: The Revised 1937 Edition: The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats. Scribner. p.396. ISBN 9781476792118.Scandinavians have been celebrating Midsummer since the Iron Age (during which time the Viking Age took place). The holiday, which has pagan roots, was used as a time to pray for abundant harvest. It was also celebrated fertility, light, and nature. Midsummer marks the “middle” of summer, the summer solstice, the longest day of the year between sunrise and sunset. Perhaps most famously, the ancient monument Stonehenge has for some time been the centre of a ritual celebration. This comes from the fact the stones are lined up to frame the rising of the Sun on the solstice, perhaps suggesting a connection to the day and as a celebration of Sun. However it isn’t clear if marking summer solstice was indeed its purpose. The stones also mark the position of sunset on the winter solstice, and so may instead indicate a place to request the return of the summer months. The Astronomical vs. Meteorological Seasons". Archived from the original on 2016-11-14 . Retrieved 2016-11-13.