Date of summer solstice 2022 and how longest day of the year is celebrated
The summer solstice is longest day and shortest night of the calendar year, and marks the beginning of the astronomical summer
The start of the sunny season is officially marked by the summer solstice, otherwise known as the longest day of the year, which signals the start of brighter evenings.
When is the longest day of the year in 2022
In the northern hemisphere, the summer solstice - also known as midsummer - takes place between 20 and 22 June every year, when the sun travels along its northernmost path in the sky.
The exact moment of the solstice is when the Earth is closest to the sun and this year it is due to fall on 21 June.
What happens during the summer solstice?
The summer solstice takes place when the Earth arrives at the point in its orbit where the North Pole is at its maximum tilt toward the sun and is directly above the Tropic of Cancer.
This results in the longest day and shortest night of the calendar year, and marks the beginning of the astronomical summer, which ends with the autumn equinox on 22 or 23 September in the Northern Hemisphere.
In the southern hemisphere the dates of the two solstices are reversed, with the winter solstice occurring on the same day in June and the summer solstice the same day in December.
How is the summer solstice celebrated?
Historically, the summer solstice used to take place between the planting and harvesting of crops, giving people who worked on the land time to relax. This is also the reason many people would traditionally get married in June, and why it is still a popular month for weddings.
“We can imagine that people gathered at the monument to celebrate the midsummer and the midwinter, although only a few people would have been able to directly observe the important alignment.”