Hendricks Gin Midsummer Solstice Limited Edition Gin, 70 cl

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Fontaine, Myriam; etal. "Fête nationale du Québec (Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day)". The Canadian Encyclopedia . Retrieved 30 November 2018. In Kaleva, Juhannus is celebrated annually on or near the Summer Solstice by Gathering at the Village Roadside Park. Traditionally Pannukakku (Finnish Oven Baked Pancake) and strawberry shortcake is enjoyed followed by a bonfire or kokko. Kaleva was founded in 1900 by Finnish immigrants. Ivan Kupala was the old Kyiv Rus' name for John the Baptist. Up to the present day, the Rus' Midsummer Night (or Ivan's Day) is known as one of the most expressive Kyiv Rus' folk and pagan holidays. Ivan Kupala Day is the day of summer solstice celebrated in Ukraine on June 23 NS and July 6 OS. Before the day was named for St John, this was a celebration of a pagan fertility rite involving bathing in water. Since St John the Baptist's birth is celebrated at this time, some elements of Kupala's pagan origins were seen to be roughly synonymous with Christian meanings, most notably the parallel of Baptism as cleansing from sins, so the holiday in a Christian-modified form has been accepted into the Orthodox Christian calendar. In modern times, due to increasing secularization, it is possible to find Kupala being celebrated in a manner closer to its pagan roots. a b Birt, Hazel Lauttamus (1988). "New Finland Homecoming 1888–1988" (republished online by Saskatchewan Gen Web Julia Adamson) . Retrieved 2010-12-07.

Since humans began using the Sun as a timekeeper, particularly when it came to the cycle in farming, the summer solstice has been marked with varying degrees of importance. Many music festivals of all sizes are organized on the Midsummer weekend. It is also common to start summer vacation on Midsummer day. For many families Midsummer is the time when they move to the countryside to their summer cottage by the sea or lake. Midsummer is also a Finnish Flag Day: the national flag is hoisted at 6 pm on Midsummer's Eve and flown throughout the night until 9 pm the next evening. This is an exception to the normal rule of flying the flag from 8 am to sunset. [44] Finnish Canadians in the New Finland district, Saskatchewan, Canada celebrate Juhannus. [49] France [ edit ] The Feast of Saint John by French artist Jules Breton (1875) Tiregān ( Persian: تیرگان) is one of ancient Iranian festival coinciding with the mid summer festivals, another midsummer festival is Gilaki Bal Nowrooz which is held in the north of Iran. People who "really pay attention to what's going on outside on a regular basis are the neo-pagans in America and farmers, because it's important for their growing and harvest seasons," says Jarita Holbrook, formerly a cultural astronomer at the University of Arizona in Tucson. In 1885, Holger Drachmann wrote a midsommervise (Midsummer hymn) called "Vi elsker vort land..." ("We Love Our Country") with a melody composed by P.E. Lange-Müller that is sung at most bonfires on this evening.

The solstice through history

While some have theorized that Stonehenge was the location of prehistoric summer solstice rituals, there’s little archaeological evidence that it was used this way. Modern-day Solstice Celebrations

Many rites of this holiday are connected with water, fertility and autopurification. The girls, for example, would float their flower garlands on the water of rivers and tell their fortunes from their movement. Lads and girls would jump over the flames of bonfires. Nude bathing is likewise practiced. Nights on the Eve of Ivan Kupala inspired Modest Mussorgsky to create his Night on Bald Mountain. A prominent Ivan Kupala night scene is featured in Andrei Tarkovsky's film Andrei Rublev. Also, in Saint Petersburg the White Nights Festival is also predominantly connected with water. There are two ways to measure seasons: meteorological and astronomical. In the meteorological calendar, summer starts on the 1st of June. In the astronomical calendar, summer begins on the 21st of June, also known as the summer solstice. Jaanipäev is usually spent in a summer cottage, where people light bonfires, or at a festival, such as Pühajärve Jaanituli in Otepää.

The Astronomical vs. Meteorological Seasons". Archived from the original on 2016-11-14 . Retrieved 2016-11-13.