First day of summer

• The June solstice in the year 2014 in the Northern Hemisphere is on Saturday, 21st of June, 2014

The
summer solstice occurs when the tilt of a planet’s semi-axis, in either
the northern or the southern hemisphere, is most inclined toward the
star (sun) that it orbits. Earth’s maximum axial tilt toward the sun is
23° 26′. This happens twice each year, at which times the sun reaches
its highest position in the sky as seen from the north or the south
pole. The summer solstice occurs during a hemisphere’s summer.

This
is northern solstice in the northern hemisphere and the southern
solstice in the southern hemisphere. Depending on the shift of the
calendar, the summer solstice occurs some time between December 20 and
December 23 each year in the southern hemisphere^[2]
and between June 20 and June 22 in the northern hemisphere. Though the
summer solstice is an instant in time, the term is also colloquially
used like midsummer to refer to the day on which it occurs. The summer
solstice occurs on the day that has the longest period of daylight –
except in the polar regions, where daylight is continuous, from a few
days to six months around the summer solstice. Worldwide, interpretation
of the event has varied among cultures, but most recognize the event in
some way with holidays, festivals, and rituals around that time with
themes of religion or fertility. Solstice is derived from the Latin
words sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still).