Summer Solstice

For at least 5,000 years, the summer solstice on June 21 - the longest day and the shortest night of the year - has been celebrated. Amy Lynch explores the myths and legends that surround the summer solstice, the most significant ancient monuments connected to it, and why it’s never been a better time to walk in the footsteps of high kings and heroes.

If you get up extra early on the summer solstice, you can see the sunrise before 5am in some parts of Ireland. The sun can set as late as 11pm. Even in the middle of the night, there’s no real darkness because the entire northern horizon remains steeped in a kind of long-lasting twilight. Not quite the land of the rising sun, but we’ll take it.

The word solstice, or grianstad in Irish, means literally ‘stopped sun’. Life in pre-Christian Ireland was ruled by the movements of the sun. In those days people were dependent on the sun for the survival of their crops and themselves. 

Irish mythology expert, author, and researcher Anthony Murphy explains that the winter and summer solstices were the "two hooks of the calendar year for ancient people – they could set their clock by these events".

The summer solstice was seen as a sacred time, associated with fertility, change, nature, and new beginnings. Our ancestors lit bonfires on top of hills, at crossroads or large openings, to banish evil spirits from their crops. They sang, danced and feasted. Legend has it that lovers would clasp hands and jump over the bonfire, to bring luck to their relationship. Some believed that the higher the lovers jumped, the higher their crops would grow.

The equinoxes (the mid points between the solstices) and the solstices themselves were marked at monuments around the island. Standing stones and tombs were designed in alignment with the sun. Many of these mysterious monuments are fully preserved.

This year, the summer solstice will fall at 4.31am – we can expect nine hours and thirty minutes longer daylight than the winter solstice. 

The summer solstice is a time for lighting bonfires, leaving special gifts for the fairies in the garden, and gathering the wild herbs that are plentiful in the hedgerows right now. Look for St John’s wort, elderflower and nettles.

Anthony Murphy’s suggests that "as you watch the sun make its way across the sky on the weekend of the summer solstice, it would be nice to reflect upon the powerful imagery. The symbolism of the event is stark. A giant warrior/god/hunter/man carries the sun aloft across the sky, like an Olympic torchbearer, from dawn until dusk. The god of light has the sun in his hand."

Solstice Spots

Hill of Tara

Today, one of the most popular places to celebrate the summer solstice is at the Hill of Tara in County Meath. Each year a different theme of celebration is chosen. 

The Hill of Tara was known as the seat of the high kings of Ireland. It has been a special site since the late Stone Age when a passage tomb was constructed there. In ancient times, worshipers believed that the Hill of Tara, known as Temair in Irish, was a sacred place of dwelling for the gods, and was the entrance to the world of eternal joy. 

Lough Gur

Lough Gur, Co. Limerick, is one of Ireland’s most fascinating archaeological and historical sites, with stone circles, megalithic tombs, ring forts and castles. The Grange Stone Circle is the largest of its kind with113 standing stones. It was built around 2200 BC and is aligned to the rising sun of the summer solstice. 

Carrowkeel Cairns

The Carrowkeel Cairns in the Bricklieve Mountains of County Sligo is a network of burial tombs, including passage tombs, standing stones, and over sixty dolmens.

A passage is aligned in the direction of summer solstice sunset, although the sun can shine into the monument for at least a month either side of June 21.

Dowth Henge

Dowth is a passage tomb located in the Boyne Valley, County Meath, Ireland. Dowth’s entrances are aligned with the dawn of the summer solstice. 

The embanked enclosure is believed to date from the late Neolithic or the early Bronze Age and is one of the largest on the island of Ireland. Although Dowth Henge is on private land, the nearby megalithic passage-tomb of Dowth is publicly accessible all year round.