In 2020, the June solstice is Saturday, June 20, at 5:44 P.M. EDT. This date marks the official beginning of summer in the
Northern Hemisphere, occurring when Earth arrives at the point in its orbit
where the North Pole is at its maximum tilt (about 23.5 degrees) toward the
Sun, resulting in the longest day and shortest night of the calendar year. (By
longest “day,” we mean the longest period of sunlight.) At the June solstice,
the Northern Hemisphere receives sunlight at the most direct angle of
the year.
For most of us, the summer solstice is of little consequence,
other than the fact that the hottest day of the summer usually comes about 30
days later. However, six of the 10 hottest days in Tucson have occurred in
June, and the record high was 116 on June 20, 2017.
Back about the time of the first established religion
(Hinduism) in about 4000 B.C, the ancient people of the world paid a LOT more
attention to the summer and winter solstice. Even before 4000 B.C, religion in other
forms existed, but they were primarily polytheistic.
.jpg)
Most people are familiar with Stonehenge, built by the ancient
Druids in about 3100 B.C., but the Druids also built another structure further north
– in present day Ireland. It is called Newgrange, and it was actually built BEFORE
Stonehenge, more than 5000 years ago. Like Stonehenge, light from the sun lights
up the interior of the structure on both the summer and winter solstice.
Like the pyramids in Egypt that were started about 500 years
after construction started at Newgrange, the structure itself was designed as a
burial ground for the ruling elite.
Our group did not get to Newgrange when we took our family
vacation to Ireland in 1999, but we DID get so some ancient burial sites in
country Sligo (the country where my grandparents were born, and some of those
graves were 3000 years old.
It’s extremely doubtful that any of us will ever tour Newgrange,
but you CAN get a brief look inside by clicking on the link below, which will
also enable you to listen to some very nice music by the group Celtic Women:
Although I’m no longer a regular church goer, I’m fascinated by
old religious structures, and have been inside a few that are REALLY old. I’ve
been inside my grandfather’s childhood church in Ireland, which dates to around
1850, and I’ve also walked inside Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside, California,
which was founded in June of 1798. Like most people, I was also horrified when
Notre Dame caught fire in April, 2019. French president Emmanuel
Macron said that the cathedral would be restored by 2024, and launched a fundraising
campaign which brought in pledges of over €1 billion as of
22 April 2019. A complete restoration could require twenty years or more.
Worldwide,
societies have gotten more secular and less religious (China is the LEAST religious
country, but Sweden is high on the list of “not religious counties)
In spite of the fact that society is less religious than it
used to be, there’s still a lot to be said for that “old time religion”, and
the link below will tell you why.
No comments:
Post a Comment