Xref: kermit uk.rec.gardening:147304

OK, time to wade in...

"June Hughes" wrote
Someone Like You writes
What disagreement can you possibly have with science that has proof???

If you want any further clarification, let me know!

No comment except to say that the longest day and Midsummers day are two
different things.

What tosh, I thinks, of course midsummer's day co-incides with the
solstice... I've been to Sweden and watched the dancing round the midsummer
pole on the solstice. So I did a bit of googling...

http://www.irishfestivals.net/midsummersday.htm says:
The festival is primarily a Celtic fire festival, representing the
middle of summer, and the shortening of the days on their gradual march to
winter. Midsummer is traditionally celebrated on either the 23rd or 24th of
June, although the longest day actually falls on the 21st of June. The
importance of the day to our ancestors can be traced back many thousands of
years, and many stone circles and other ancient monuments are aligned to the
sunrise on Midsummer's Day. Probably the most famous alignment is that at
Stonehenge, where the sun rises over the heel stone, framed by the giant
trilithons on Midsummer morning.

This last bit is a little odd, as I thought all the pagans and druids hung
out at stonehenge on the solstice not 24 June - perhaps the 'real' ones do
go on 24th, of course, in peace and solitude, while letting the 'trendy'
pagans (and the media) clutter up the solstice in ignorance ;-) That said,
this explanation ties in nicely with Christmas, which is, by timing, a
modern hijacking of an older festival, also a few days after the solstice.

So with several sites confirming that 21st is Midsummer's Day in Sweden,
while several others claim Midsummers is also known as St John's Day and
celebrated on 23-24 June (another Christian hijacking?), I think it is
reasonably safe to say that Midsummer's day can be what and when you want it
to be, and its date bears no fundamental relationship to the solstice.

There are however some confused people out the
http://www.bbhs.suffolk.sch.uk/tradi...midsummer.html claims that
"Midsummer is celebrated at the summer solstice in June. It's a festival of
light and midsummer's beauty. Sun is longest above the horizon and in the
north all the night. It's called "nightless night". Midsummer June 24 th is
also a day of the Finnish flag." This seems to be a UK school's site, so
I'm a little concerned that they seem to think the solstice is 24 June - and
even if they don't, they should be making it clearer that they undestand the
difference!

Ho hum...

Martin, getting ready to duck ;-)