What It Is and How to Celebrate It

I’ve always been a summer girl. It’s not cozy like fall, brisk like winter, or hopeful like spring. Summer stands on its own as a bright, energizing time of year. It’s when happiness is just a juicy, drip-down-your-chin bite of watermelon away—and giddiness arrives with a single cannonball off the diving board. The nights stretch long into golden hour, when even the lightning bugs turn on their electric charm. Everything in the world just feels better when it’s sun-kissed.

So you can imagine my delight when I was asked to write a guide to celebrating the summer solstice.

One of my favorite summer people is my mother-in-law—a woman named Margaret who, somewhere along the way, started calling herself “Marguerite” because she felt it suited her better. (The name means “wild French daisy,” which is far more her style.) As the family matriarch, she encouraged us to live creatively and color outside the lines, even while rooted in a buttoned-up suburban neighborhood in San Antonio.

While others played tennis and sipped toddies at the club, Marguerite spent her days gardening and meditating. And when most families gathered for Christmas or Hanukkah in December, she would lead us in moonlit winter solstice celebrations—decked in silver and gold, dancing under the stars. In the warmer months, it was maypoles, flower crowns, magic spells, and midsummer revelry. It was magical and memorable. It taught me to approach the world with open-hearted exuberance and childlike whimsy.

Years later, my beautiful mother-in-law is suffering from a debilitating and rare brain disease. Now more than ever, I find myself leaning on the memories of those traditions she brought into my life. In honor of her precious and inspiring spirit, I started looking into incorporating some of her wildly wonderful ways into my own family of five.

Read on for a look into what the summer solstice is, why it’s celebrated, and some ideas that you, too, can incorporate into your own festivities. 

What is the summer solstice?

During the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere, the earth’s axis is tilted most towards the sun, offering up the longest day of the year (think: more sunlight!) and the shortest night. It always occurs at the end of June. This year, Summer Solstice is on Friday, June 20th, thus beginning the astronomical start of summer. 

Why do we celebrate it?

For thousands of years, people have celebrated the summer and winter solstices as markers of the planting and harvest seasons—dating all the way back to the Neolithic era, according to St. Neot’s Museum. Early Pagans honored the summer solstice as a time to glorify the Sun God, adorning themselves with garlands of herbs and flowers believed to ward off evil spirits (which they thought were most active during the height of summer). Today, these traditions live on, with solstice celebrations symbolizing new life, light, renewal, fertility, and abundance—both within ourselves and in the world around us.

How is the summer solstice celebrated around the world?

In England, people gather together to watch the sunrise above the Heel Stone at Stonehenge. In the Nordic countries of Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland, they celebrate with their Midsommer festivals, each with their own unique traditions (the Swedes decorate their hair with flowers and dance around Maypoles, while the Finns light bonfires and soak in saunas.) Meanwhile, just 150 miles south of the arctic circle in Fairbanks, Alaska, they celebrate each summer solstice with a midnight sun baseball game and festival. 

In England, crowds gather to watch the sun rise above the Heel Stone at Stonehenge—a timeless solstice tradition. Across the Nordic countries of Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland, Midsommer festivals take center stage, each with its own unique customs. In Sweden, revelers wear flower crowns and dance around maypoles, while in Finland, bonfires blaze and saunas are a key part of the celebration. Meanwhile, just 150 miles south of the Arctic Circle, Fairbanks, Alaska marks the summer solstice with a midnight sun baseball game and a city-wide festival.

Want to create your own festival without traveling to the ends of the earth? Read on for some of our ideas to celebrate the longest day of the year!

Outdoor Summer Solstice Activities

• Take a hike. Get off the beaten path, lace up those hiking boots, and prepare to sweat a little. There’s no better way to celebrate summer solstice than (a music and podcast-free) hike through Mother Nature, allowing the only noise to be the sound of crunching dirt beneath your feet.
• Bask in the sun’s glory. Get outside and allow your skin to soak up a bit of vitamin D. And if you’re hanging outside for more than just a few minutes, here’s our roundup of all our favorite mineral and chemical sunscreens.
• Break out the lawn games. Pickleball or bocce, anyone?
• Stargaze. Spread out a blanket in your backyard and stare at the stars. Too much city light making it hard to see the Milky Way? Try getting out of the city limits a bit—the less city light, the better the stargazing.

DIY Summer Solstice Crafts to Celebrate the Sun

• Channel your bohemian spirit. Design a DIY floral crown.
• Make a suncatcher. Hit your local bead store, and hang your handmade creation in a window, allowing the beads to gently deflect the light into your home.
• Assemble a Litha altar. Traditionally, a Litha altar honors the sun and the energy of the summer solstice—with symbols like yellow candles, herbs, flowers, and sun imagery.
• Be a Sun Goddess. Grab some ribbon, twine, branches, and sage, and try your hand at a sun wheel.

Adventure-Inspired Summer Solstice Ideas

• Go berry picking. Find a local farm outside the city limits, and make a day of it strolling amongst the trees and vines.
• Set up camp. Find the perfect tent, gather up some wood for a bonfire, and head for the hills.
• Take an evening dip. Don’t have a pool? Find a neighborhood pool to swim by the moon’s glow. (Live in Austin? We’re partial to the full moon swims at Barton Springs.)
• Try paddleboard yoga. In true Summer Solstice fashion, SUP yoga takes you outside celebrating the great outdoors, is a great exercise for both body and balance, and is just plain fun.

Summer Solstice Food Ideas

Summer Solstice Rituals for Reflection and Renewal

• Meditate. It’s as simple as breathing in and breathing out.
• Get grounded. Yes, it’s buzzy, but for good reason. Grounding is a trendy new tradition with ancient roots. It reduces stress and inflammation, neutralizes free radicals, improves sleep, and has been said to help skin tone and clarity.
• Set intentions. Thought goal setting was for January only? Think again. Honor the summer solstice’s celebration of new beginnings by turning over a few new leaves of your own.
• Start something new. The summer solstice is all about new beginnings, so now’s the perfect time to try your hand at learning more about enneagram types or taking up nature journaling.

This post was last updated on June 20, 2025 to include new insights.