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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
It occurs tomorrow, folks, and for most of us (and y'all Antipodeans' ancestors) it's the summer solstice. Do any of y'all observe the date? If so, in what way? And could the Celt scholars among us treat us to a brief history of the Druid observance (I know ICLIU, but it's much more fun to hear what my distinguished interlocutors have to say)?
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 609
addict
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addict
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 609 |
summer solsticeOfficial start of summer (21st June) and Midsummers Day is 24th June. So that gives us a one week summer! So I intend to enjoy it. I usually spend it wondering why the gods always interpret my cleaning the patio furniture as a rain dance  . Rod
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
We just comment to each other that it's the longest day of the year. The sun doesn't set until slightly after 9:00 pm (a little later in Winnipeg, and later still further north). So we bask in the sunlight. And then it's all downhill from here! 
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
I always felt the Vernal equinox doesn't get enough attention, so I boycott all the hullabaloo about summer solstice.
[yes, I'm a Pisces]
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
the Vernal equinox doesn't get enough attention
But Kriegführende Jugend, the Vernal Equinox is crucial in setting the day of the New Year. The new moon before the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox. How much more attention could you ask for?
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
Oh, just the normal stuff – go up to the nearest Neolithic monument at midnight, bit of drinking, dancing, virgin sacrifice, stuff like that…  http://www.stonepages.com/wales/pentreifan.html
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 428
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addict
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 428 |
When I was a wee bairn, all the kids in my neighborhood had to stop playing and be in the house "by dark". We always loved the longest day of the year, and had great times running around until 9:00 on those nights. Of course, it wasn't more than, what, 4 minutes more playtime than the day before, but just knowing it was the longest day made it seem more special.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
just knowing it was the longest day made it seem more specialIt may have been the longest day but it wasn't the latest sunset. That would have been sometime later. See http://geography.miningco.com/science/geography/library/weekly/aa061500a.htm. You can retrospectively revel in the fact that you had up to a week of evenings when you could stay out past the time you could have on the evening of the solstice, if only by a minute.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
It is interesting that Midsummer Day, June 24, counted as the summer solstice (in the N. Hemisphere) is the feast of St. John the Baptist, while the winter solstice is near the Feast of St. John the Evangelist (Dec. 27). Any theories as to why the feasts of the two Sts. John come at the solstices?
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