In Spain…
Tuesday 21th june at 11.14 am we will officially welcome Summer.
What is the solstice?
It’s the result of the inclination of the Earth’s axis 23,4 degrees towards the sun, therefore the sun light reach in a different way all the planet zones in the Earth’s orbit around the sun.
This is the day in the year in which the Earth’s North Pole is inclinated the most towards the sun, so that the North Hemisphere has the largest day and the shortest night of the year, being just the opposite in the South Hemisphere, which recives the winter solstice.
Traditions
The celebration of this day has been very important in History among all civilizations.
For instance…
- Starting by the ancient Egipt, egyptians built the pyramids in a way that the sun was placed between the two pyramids seen from the sphinx during the solstice.
- Incas celebrated this day with food offerings and animal and human sacrifices during the ceremony named “Inti Raymi.”
- Mayans designed observatories aligned with the sun during the solstice. In that day, they gathered there in order to see how the king sun commanded the skies.
- In the United Kingdom, every one knows about Stonehenge monument. It is related to solstices. From inside of the stones circle, it is watched the solstice summer sunrise over the Heel Stone, a big stone located outside the man circle .
- In the United States, this day was related to the harvest, performing rituals to secure it abundance.
What about Spain?
As we may imagine due to previous posts, Christianity played an important rol in this time of the year celebrations… more info in the next post!
And you, how do you celebrate this day? Leave your comments.
