Fire up the grills and celebrate the longest hours of daylight in the Northern Hemisphere on Sunday. Fire and light traditionally embellish the winter solstice to symbolically bring back the sun. But summer solstice bonfires were even more popular. Believed to boost the sun’s energy, bringing a good growing season and harvest, the fires were also thought to banish malevolent spirits that would appear on solstice day.

The moment of solstice is when the sun appears to “stand still” at its zenith in the sky. In that instant, the sun will be directly above the Tropic of Cancer, the northernmost circle of latitude at which the sun can appear overhead. Soon after, the sun begins its southward journey. Earth is actually farthest from the sun at this time of year. Our long warm days arrive due to the tilt of the rotational axis, angled at about 23.4 degrees.

Solstice celebrations are thought to have been observed since the Stone Age. At the ancient ring of Stonehenge, crowds still gather to watch the solstice sun rise over the heel stone. Festivities with food, bonfires and wreaths of wildflowers continue worldwide. Tyrol, Austria, keeps a tradition dating from the Middle Ages of lighting massive bonfires on surrounding mountaintops as beacons to the sun as the sky grows dark.

First Published: June 15, 2021, 10:00 a.m.