Summer Solstice Ireland

Summer solstice hits Ireland tomorrow during a period of exceptionally sunny and warm weather. Sunrise is at 4.56, however civil twilight, or the time of dawn where the sun has not truly risen yet we can still see starts at 4.04 am. The sun officially sets at 21.56pm with dusk settling in civil twilight at 22.49 giving us an amazing 17 hours and thirteen seconds of daylight on the longest day of the year!  Daylight over the coming weeks reduces by mere seconds a day over the coming weeks and its not until the end of August that its reduction is truly noticed.

Solstice has been celebrated in Ireland for at least 5,000 years. Newgrange in Meath along with Carrowkeel in Sligo, Irelands Neolithic site passageway sites light up at the dawn of each solstice. Mid summers festivals and bonfires are traditional on this day.

Pagans believed that the summer was the most sacred time of year for banishing evil spirits and to pray for a good harvest. The goddess Etain is remembered at this time. Etain was part of the old gods, from the Land of Youth, the Tuatha de Danann. Considered the fairest and most perfect and most beautiful of all the women in the world, she was cursed by a rival and turned first into a pool of water then a worm and finally a butterfly. Etain symbolises change and transcendence. After 1000 years she is reincarnated, finds her lover again becomes a swan and returns to the Land of Youth.