chasing devils (20/6/24)

aside

cometh the summer solstice and here we are again, almost exactly one year on, give or take a day or so, and it happens… when?... today, of course, the 20^th, at precisely 21:51 BST, or 9:51pm, if you prefer, marking the exact point the northern hemisphere is pointing directly towards the sun with the highest number of daylight hours seen in a single day and takes place at the exact moment the Sun reaches its highest point in the sky, which is when the northern hemisphere is tilted most towards the Sun, as in the north pole.. the actual solstice itself is a single point in time and not, as some believe, the whole day… essentially, it marks the point when the Sun’s rays hit this part of the Earth most directly, at the same time of which the South Pole of the Earth is pointing away from the Sun resulting in the winter solstice on the same day… as the Earth’s axis has a tilt of around 24° relative to its orbit around the Sun, today the northern hemisphere will be tilted at its closest point towards the sun while the southern hemisphere is tilted furthest from the Sun… one misunderstanding is that at this time of year the earth is closer to the sun, it isn’t, because this distance is related to the tilt and not orbit distance, the Earth is actually closest to the Sun in January at what’s called the perihelion, and furthest away in July, called the aphelion…. the day length on the solstice, as that between sunrise and sunset, will be 16 hours, 58 minutes and 44  seconds, give or take, and although the earliest sunrise isn’t always on the solstice, it is this year, at 4:48am for the past three days, but it won’t be the latest sunset, this happens on the 23^rd by a mere second… bear in mind, this only applies to here, where I am, which is not where you are, you’re there, not here, here is where I am, see, see me, here, waving frantically……

beside

… the word “solstice” comes from the Latin, “sol”, for sun, and, “stitium”, for still or stopped, as in, the sun has stopped moving northward in the sky, and from this point begins to track southward again on its way through the summer into autumn... the sun does the opposite at the winter solstice, moving northward as winter slowly turns towards the spring…

seaside

… St John’s Wort is in flower at this time of year, named as such because of its association with St. John’s Day on the 24^th… it’s also known as ‘chase devil’, because, if worn, as in woven into a garland, it affords protection in warding off evil spirits which are said to appear at the solstice…

© 2024 robert greig