Happy Summer Solstice, June: a month dedicated to Hera
The month of June contains a lot of happenings such as mythological, folkloric, agricultural, and astronomical.
So, what is about the 6th month of the year so unique, but first, is it even the 6th month of the year?
June was named after the Goddess Hera, the wife of the god Zeus, who in Latin was called Juno. It is the tenth month in the ecclesiastical calendar that begins in September and the fourth according to the old Roman calendar. In the Attic calendar it was the twelfth month, and it was called Skiroforion for a period of 29 days and corresponds to the period from May 24 to June 22. In other cities of ancient Greece, the last month of the year was considered Poseidon, which in Athens was considered the sixth month of the year.
June, also known as "Theristis"
The month of June is mainly known as the Reaper (theristis): “Principles of the Reaper, the feast of our scythe”, since it is directly related to the ripening and harvesting of cereals. The harvest is done with the scythe starting from the place where the wind has bent the ears.
Why summer is starting in the middle of June?
On the third of the month, the summer solstice or the summer solstice of the Sun occurs, the so-called “liotropi” by Greek people, hence the name of June as “Liotropi”. Indeed, on June 21-22, the Sun reaches the northernmost point of the ecliptic and begins to descend again, “turning” towards the equator. This point is called the summer tropics or just the summer solstice because the sun sets again at the equator and from this day summer begins. Because, in fact, for a few days before and after the summer solstice, the sun seems to be lingering on the ecliptic as if it were about to stop, the summer tropic is also called the summer solstice.
Fun Fact
2,000 years ago the point of the summer solstice was in the constellation of Cancer, which is why the Northern Tropic that passes through this point was named “Tropical of Cancer”. After the summer solstice, the Sun begins to descend to the South, so it “walks as crab”, that is, it makes a retrograde motion like a crab.
Happy Summer Solstice from the Empriria Greece team!
Reference: Simopoulos, Dionysis P. The Months of May and June, Geotropio of Eleftherotypia, Issue 472 (May 2, 2009)