Summer Solstice
June 20-22
Northern Hemisphere

Summer Solstise is when the North Pole is pointed most toward the sun, the longest day and shortest night. The Summer Solstice, Midsummer, is linked with fertility and sexuality. June is the most popular wedding month.

6,000 years ago, people began to form into groups or communities. Food, clothing, and shelter were essencial. Man learned that certain foods grew during certain times of the year - the solar year. So keeping tract of time became necessary in order to know when to plant and when to harvest. The time and season of the migration of animals became equally important. When the work was done and things went well, people celebrated ( early holidays ). Many of the ways (traditions) we celebrate duing holidays can be traced back to early civilization.

Not many solar holidays were celebrated at this time. (1) People were busy working the fields (2) People knew that for the next six months, daylight would be less and less each day (3) As stated before, this was a time for fertility and sexuality. Work and mating occupied most of the people's time.

Start of Cancer - astrological sign

References Infoplease.lycos.com
Carnegie Mellon University.
www.religioustolerance.org/
History Channel

Solstice comes from the Latin (sol, sun; sistit, stands). For several days before and after each solstice, the sun appears to stand still in the sky-that is, its noontime elevation does not seem to change.

The Summer Solstice and Honeymoons The moon of Midsummer is, in pagan tradition, called the "Honey Moon" from the mead made of fermented honey drunk after the many marriage ceremonies held on the Summer Solstice.

The Summer Solstice has long held special significance to many cultures, particularly for nature- and sun-based religions and in agrarian communities. To them, Midsummer, as the day is called, held special magic.
For example, it is believed that on this day, if a young girl gathered yarrow flowers from the grave of a young man and placed them under the pillow of the man she desired, then during the night he would dream her dreams. Sharing their dreams presumably would initiate a courtship between the two. This belief was the basis for William Shakespeares classic play: A Midsummer Nights Dream.
The Midsummer Sabbat or Summer Solstice also known as Alban, Hefin, and Litha. Litha (pronounced "LITH-ah") is one of the Lesser Wiccan Sabbats and is usually celebrated on June 21st, but varies somewhat from the 20th to the 23rd, dependant upon the Earths rotation around the Sun (check the calendar). According to the old folklore calendar, Summer begins on Beltane (May 1st) and ends on Lughnassadh (August 1st), with the Summer Solstice midway between the two, marking MID-Summer.

It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the brides father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month we know today as the honeymoon.

SUMMER SOLSTICE (June 21*)
This time of the longest days is celebrated as a fire festival. The season between the planting and the harvest, June is also the "traditional" month for handfastings and weddings.

INDEPENDENCE DAY(July 4*)
The anniversery of the formation of an independant United States of America

LUGHNASADH: (August 1)
The First Harvest. Plants are 'setting their seed" already for the next year as the cycle of Nature continues.

WORLD TRADE TOWERS DAY(September 11*)
The anniversary of the terror attack which caused the United States to enter into war with Iraq.