June 21 - Solstice, or Longest Day of the Year
June 22, 2018 | 12:07 |2523
Today at 15 hours 7 minutes Ashgabat time the sun in the Northern Hemisphere reached its highest position above the sky. The summer solstice has come, when we can observe the shortest night and the longest light day in the year. Our ancestors did not doubt the fact that this moment is special. Moments of the equinox and solstice were perceived by the peoples of Central Asia as the boundary of elements and seasons. These days were to be held so that harmony reigned between people and the world.Batyr Yuzbashev
Indicative was the day of the vernal equinox, when the day was compared with the night and the Novruz holiday, the arrival of spring, the revival of nature was celebrated. The summer solstice marked the arrival of a truly hot summer. It was important for all living things, especially the plant world - trees and shrubs. In the collection of medicinal herbs and rituals, sunrise and sunset was already significant, not to mention the longest day of the year.
The hottest weather sets in a few weeks after the day of the solstice. This period occupied a special place in the outlook for the cultures of the foothills of the Kopetdag and the valleys of the Tejen and Murgab rivers - significant centers for the birth of world agriculture.
In the northern nations, the summer solstice or solstice was an analogue of our southern Novruz, commemorating the arrival of the most favorable time of the year after prolonged cold weather, the joy of the sun and warmth. Therefore, in the Slavic culture this date is surrounded by a special aureole and was originally associated with the holiday of Ivan Kupala. And in very northern Finland this date, more precisely Saturday, the closest to the solstice is a nationwide holiday.
This time is called Solstice, because the luminary seems to freeze at the zenith - the largest point above the horizon, where it is permissible to rise in this latitude. In our region this is only the longest day, its duration in Ashgabat will be more than 14 hours 48 minutes. And in the far north at that time there is a polar day, when the star does not fall at all beyond the horizon, but slightly moves to the south - the famous white nights.
Indeed, the summer solstice comes when the Earth's rotation axis is least deviated from the direction to the Sun. Its deviation is only 23.4 degrees. At this moment, the Northern Hemisphere of the Earth is maximally drawn to the luminary and receives the most sun rays.
