Watching the sunrise at Stonehenge on summer solstice. Source@wikimedia commons

Did you know that the summer solstice happens when the sun is in its highest position in the sky as the North Pole tilts towards the sun by 23.4˚? This is the longest day of the year in terms of sunlight as the sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn in the Northern Hemisphere. The exact date for this changes every year but it is somewhere around the 21st June. However, this event is not just important for astronomy. In the UK the summer solstice has a direct relationship to the ancient monument Stonehenge.  Read on for more…

December 21, the winter Solstice, is a magical date for many people. It is considered to be the shortest day (and the longest night) of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and during this time, before Christianity and Christmas, the pagan and Germanic tribes of northern Europe celebrated their winter festival.  They called the 12-day festival “Yule” and during it they killed animals, finished making their beer and prepared for the long, hard winter months ahead.