This year’s solstice coincides with the Strawberry Moon, a once-in-a-lifetime event.
The summer solstice is the longest day of the year and the astronomical beginning of summer, which falls on 20th June 2016.
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The Strawberry Moon is not necessarily pink or red however, it is the a name given to the full moon each June which coincides with the start of the strawberry season.
This year will be the first time since 1967 that the summer solstice will coincide with a ‘strawberry’ moon
The Telegraph reports:
Around 25,000 people are expected to gather at Stonehenge in Wiltshire to celebrate the solstice, which comes from the Latin solstitium meaning “sun stands still”
The day is considered to be sacred by many pagans around the world who celebrate the solstice among their yearly holidays and sometimes call he festival Litha, a term dating back to the Venerable Bede for the months of June and July.
English Heritage, which is charging people to park at Stonehenge for the first time this year, has asked revellers to respect the ancient monument.
Despite the name, the moon will not appear pink or red, although it may glow a warm amber. The romantic label was coined by the Algonquin tribes of North America who believed June’s full moon signalled the beginning of the strawberry picking season.
Other names for the phenomenon in the Northern Hemisphere include Rose Moon, the Hot Moon, and the Honey Moon, while in the Southern Hemisphere it is known as the Long Night Moon.
“Having a full moon land smack on the solstice is a truly rare event,” said astronomer Bob Mernan of Farmer’s Almanac.
“By landing exactly on the solstice, this Full Moon doesn’t just rise as the Sun sets but is opposite the Sun in all other ways too.
“The Sun gets super high so this Moon must be super-low. This forces its light through thicker air, which also tends to be humid this time of year, and the combination typically makes it amber coloured. This is the true Honey Moon.”
Around 25,000 people are expected to gather at Stonehenge in Wiltshire to celebrate the solstice, which comes from the Latin solstitium meaning “sun stands still”
The day is considered to be sacred by many pagans around the world who celebrate the solstice among their yearly holidays and sometimes call he festival Litha, a term dating back to the Venerable Bede for the months of June and July.
English Heritage, which is charging people to park at Stonehenge for the first time this year, has asked revellers to respect the ancient monument.
Niamh Harris
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