Today is the solstice — our longest day

The longest day of the year has been celebrated since ancient times.

By LINDA M. LINONIS

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

Relish the daylight — there will be 15 hours and 9 minutes of it today — for the summer solstice, the first day of summer.

Solstice is an astronomical definition: It’s when the sun it is at its farthest point north of the celestial equator, said Patrick R. Durrell, director of Youngstown State University’s Ward Beecher Planetarium and assistant professor in the department of physics and astronomy.

Astronomers arrived at 2:06 p.m., the time of this year’s solstice, by calculating when the sun would be at that farthest point. The time will be different next year.

The word solstice means “sun standing still,” said Durrell. That’s because the sun, in the couple of days before and after June 21, stops its northward motion and begins its southward motion. From June 19-23, daylight is 15 hours and 9 minutes daily, give or take a few seconds.

People living in the Northern Hemisphere will experience varying lengths of daylight, depending on geographic locations. At Stonehenge in England, the sun is directly over the heel stone at the summer solstice.

Celebrating the solstice

Durrell checked the U.S. Naval Observatory Web site, www.usno.navy, to find out the time of sunrise, which is 5:50 a.m. today, and sunset, 8:59 p.m., for Youngstown. The site notes that Washington, D.C., will have 14 hours, 54 minutes of daylight.

Ray Novotny, naturalist at Mill Creek Metro Parks, said he likes to link park activities with events such as the solstice. “We had a hike for the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year,” he said.

Today, there will be solstice kayak trips from 2:11 to 4:11 and 6 to 8 p.m. on Lake Newport.

At 6 p.m. today, walkers will wear mugwort wreaths and foray through the array of herbs at Plant’s Herb Farm and Bed and Breakfast in Mercer, Pa. Deborah Plant, proprietor, said 10 to 12 years ago she visited Caprilands Herb Farm in Coventry, Conn.

“I was there on the longest day of the year and it was a wonderful experience,” she said, and so she borrowed the idea. “We had discussions about herbs,” she said, and she noted folklore about the day also was a topic.

New take on ancient traditions

“We talked about the Druids of ancient times and how virgins would dance around and pick their mates on the longest day of the year,” she said. This also could be the forerunner of the popularity of June as a favorite month for weddings.

“We won’t be dancing around,” she said about the herb hike, but walkers will pick up herb-related tidbits. Mugwort is often called the “traveler’s herb.” Folklore says that wearing a crown of it at midsummer will help ward off negativity.

Even if a part of the day is spent at work or school or on chores, there’s still daylight to burn. Take in a concert at 7 tonight by the Dixieland Dandies at Maag Theatre at Boardman Park.

And as the last sliver of daylight fades to black, watch the fireflies and reflect on how you spent the longest day of the year. And think how you might spend the shortest day, the winter solstice, in December.

linonis@vindy.com