Summer solstice 2022: Sensual traditions on the longest day of the year

(CNN) — Do you feel a stirring in your heart? Perhaps a jump in your libido? Hell, are you getting hot and bothered?

The solstice is historically linked to fertility, both of the plant and human variety, in destinations around the world.

Summer solstice: questions and answers

Ask: I like the precision. Exactly When is the summer solstice in 2022?

Answer: The answer depends on where you are during the solstice.

Here’s how 09:13 UTC aligns with local time in select locations around the world (and note the progression of time as we go from east to west):

• Guam: Tuesdays at 7:13 p.m.
• Tokyo, Japan: Tuesday at 18:13
• Manila, Philippines: Tuesday at 17:13
• Dhaka, Bangladesh: 3:13 pm Tuesday
• Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Tuesday at 1:13 pm
• Istanbul, Turkey: Tuesday at 12:13 pm
• Brussels, Belgium: 11:13 am Tuesday
• Casablanca, Morocco: 10:13 am Tuesday
• Recife, Brazil: 6:13 am Tuesday
• Boston, Massachusetts: Tuesdays at 5:13 am
• Guadalajara, Mexico: 4:23 am Tuesday
• Calgary, Canada: 3:13 am on Tuesday
• Seattle, Washington: 2:13 a.m. Tuesday
• Honolulu, Hawaii: Monday at 11:13 p.m.

Ask: It’s the longest day of the year, and does it happen all over the world?

Answer: No. It is the longest day in the northern hemisphere alone. It is the shortest day of the year south of the equator. Residents of the southern hemisphere, in places like Argentina, South Africa and New Zealand, are about to welcome three months of winter.

And the differences in the amount of daylight become very dramatic as you get closer to the poles and further away from the equator.

In Ecuador’s capital Quito, just north of the equator, people hardly notice the difference. They get a measly seven extra minutes of daylight.

But residents north of Helsinki, Finland, will have a 3:54 am sunrise and nearly 19 hours of daylight. Even the night doesn’t get so dark.

Residents of Fairbanks in the central interior of Alaska can scoff at those 19 hours. They’ll get a whopping 21 hours and 41 minutes of daylight.

As for those poor penguins in Antarctica guarding their eggs, if they could talk, they could say a lot about living in the 24-hour darkness.

Ask: Why don’t we have 12 hours of daylight all year round?

“As the Earth revolves around the sun [once each year], its tilted axis always points in the same direction. So, throughout the year, different parts of the Earth receive direct rays from the sun,” according to NASA.

When the sun reaches its apex in the northern hemisphere, that is the summer solstice.

Sensual traditions: midsummer in Sweden

Now let us turn our attention to what is Really in our minds: the romantic and sexy side of the solstice. We will start in Sweden.

Their traditions include dancing around a maypole, a symbol some consider to be phallic. They also feast on herring and vodka (whether that’s romantic or not is probably a matter of personal preference).

“Many children are born nine months after the summer solstice in Sweden,” Jan-Öjvind Swahn, a Swedish ethnologist and author of several books on the subject, told CNN before his death in 2016.

“Drinking is the most typical summer solstice tradition. There are historical images of people drinking to the point where they can’t drink any more,” Swahn said.

While libations have something to do with the subsequent baby boom, Swahn pointed out that even without alcohol, the summer solstice is a time rich in romantic rituals.

“There used to be a tradition among single girls, that if they ate something very salty during the summer solstice, or if they picked several different kinds of flowers and put them under their pillow when they slept, they would dream of their futures.” husbands,” he said. .

Pagan rites in Greece

There is a similar mythology about dreaming about the future spouse in parts of Greece. There, as in many European countries, the pagan solstice was absorbed into Christianity and renamed Saint John’s Day. Even so, in many towns in the north of the country ancestral rites are still celebrated.

One of the oldest rituals is called Klidonas, and involves local virgins collecting water from the sea.

All the single women in the village place a personal belonging in the pot and leave it under a fig tree overnight, where, folklore says, the magic of the day imbues the objects with prophetic powers, and the girls in question dream of their future. . husbands

The next day, all the women of the town get together and take turns pulling out items and reciting rhyming couplets that are meant to predict the romantic fortune of the item’s owner. These days, however, the festival is more of an excuse for the women’s community to trade bawdy jokes.

“In my village, the older women always seem to come up with the dirtiest rhymes,” says Eleni Fanariotou, who filmed the custom. Later in the day, the sexes mingle and take turns jumping over a bonfire.

Anyone who manages to jump over the flames three times has a wish granted. Fanariotou said that the festival often results in coupling.

“It’s a good time to meet someone, because all the young people in town go and it’s a good opportunity to socialize. Also, all men like to show off and build the biggest fire they can to jump into.”

a slavic cupid

In Eastern Europe, the summer solstice is associated with Ivan Kupala Day, a holiday with romantic connotations for many Slavs (“kupala” is derived from the same word as “cupid”). It’s also called Kupala Night (apparently, love doesn’t stick to a strict schedule).

“It was once believed that Kupala night was a time for people to fall in love, and that those who celebrated it would be happy and prosperous throughout the year,” recalls Agnieszka Bigaj of the Polish tourist office.

It used to be that young, single women floated wreaths in the river where eager bachelors on the other side tried to catch the flowers. she said.

According to Polish folklore, the man and woman in question would become a couple. Bonfires are also a big feature of the holiday, and it is tradition for a couple to jump through the flames together while holding hands; if they don’t let go, it is said that their love will last.

Yoga in India and beyond

Few things put you in touch with your mind and body like yoga does.

In India, the birthplace of the ancient practice, the summer solstice is traditionally celebrated with mass yoga sessions across the country, the second most populous in the world.

And these days, yoga has spread all over the world.

Traditions in China

It was called “chaojie” and “the women gave each other fans and colored bags. The fans could help them not to feel so hot and the bags were to drive away mosquitoes and make them smell good.”

stonehenge

One of the world’s most notable solstice celebrations has traditionally taken place at Stonehenge, England, where thousands of people gather each year. Like many other events in 2020-21, they had to close it due to the pandemic.

Dating back to the time of the Druids and pagans, Stonehenge has a mysterious allure.

“All Druid rituals have an element of fertility, and the solstice is no exception,” King Arthur Pendragon, a high-ranking archdruid, told CNN. “We celebrate the union of the male and female deities, the sun and the earth, on the longest day of the year.”

Top Image: Swimmers return from the sea after a summer solstice dip in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, England, on June 21, 2021. (Photo by Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)

Part of this article was taken from a CNN story by Daisy Carrington first published in 2013.