For this one I have to write about the Summer and Winter Solstices. I made a start on the Summer Solstice as a page for my Scrapbook of Shadows but I only did a couple of paragraphs:
The Summer Solstice occurs between the 20th and 23rd of June, it various each year due to the earth's wobble on it's axis. The word solstice comes from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still). This is because during the year the sun rises and sets along the horizon at a slightly different position each day; from the Winter Solstice to the Summer Solstice the sun progresses north along the horizon, then at the Summer Solstice it begins to journey south again, hence the appearance of the sun standing still on the horizon at the two Solstices.
The Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year and is also known as Midsummer or Litha. Midsummer is not a specifically Pagan term, it is used to refer to any number of celebrations held in June, the most well known of which, in the Christian calendar, is the the feast of Saint John the Baptist. Quite a number of modern Pagans refer to this solstice as Litha which is thought to derive from the Anglo Saxon name of the month roughly corresponding to June and July as noted by Bede. The two months were called "se Ærra Liþa" and "se Æfterra Liþa," the early Litha month and the later Litha month, however this name wasn't used by Pagans of Old.
I shall have to expand on them before the deadline and add something about the Winter Solstice.
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