The major solar holidays are four, and mark the official beginnings of the four seasons in the Gregorian calendar, which is standard in most of the West and indeed much of the world. The solstices are in winter and summer, predictably marking the day with the earliest sunset (and therefore the shortest day and longest night) and the latest sunset (and therefore the longest day and shortest night), respectively. The spring and fall equinoxes are notable for being midpoints between these. The solstices are even more dramatic when observed from far above the Tropic of Cancer or far below the Tropic of Capricorn (note: which may have to be adjusted on maps at some point due to the current pole shift potentially redefining both poles, possibly hundreds of kilometers from their current positions), and incredibly exaggerated very near or at the north and south poles.
Today is the summer solstice, which means it’ll be summer from now on until the equinox ushers in the fall in September.
Seasons in most climates have the esoteric quality of having very discernible tones, perhaps even moreso than years or months. They are that cyclical, and return to us like something we know, year after year. This is perhaps one of the nice luxuries of time.
My new Spotify concept playlist is called That Summer (part of a seasonal set; note that you may have to refresh the page once before the list actually comes up to play on the web interface; you can search for this list as “That Summer (mix)” on the app). It’s a fairly short listen, compiled with summer’s signature tone in mind, as well as my personal ideas of summer as exciting, warm and rhythmic, sweet at dusk, and full of moments that are hard to encapsulate by description. Check it out. Happy Summer.
──── by Lync Dalton ────
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