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I was reading at the Wikipedia entry on "Father's Day" and realized that, although the date differs across the 53 or so countries that celebrate it, most of the countries celebrate it on the "third Sunday of June". Now, incidentally, sometimes, the third Sunday of June is June 21st, which is the summer solstice, the time when the northern part of the earth's axis points towards the sun, signalling the "official" start of summer (this btw, actually caused me a lot of confusion and anguish, as a kid, because as far as I can recall, "summer" in the Philippines usually started at the end of March!)


If you were at Stonehenge, you would see the sun rise at this particular spot every June 21st.

The reason I wanted to pointed this out is because, since pagan times, human beings have worshipped the Sun, being the primary giver of life on earth (which is in fact, a scientific fact). The ancient Egyptians even had a name for the sun god, Ra. And thus, I cannot help but realize that in many Judeo-Christian faiths around the world, people percieve the supreme deity as "God the Father" and realized that in a way, Father's day seems to evoke a parallel Druidic (pagan) rite of celebrating the summer solstice.

Summer means a lot in temperate countries. It signals the time when the grass and trees becomes vividly green, the warmth all around permeates, and life in general seems to be at its fullest. Which is also probably why a lot of couples prefer June weddings, and thus the longing of some females to be "June brides" (there's another story about why people prefer June weddings, and it involves people not taking baths/showers for months, but I won't go into that lol). The Sun seems to be showcasing its awesome power to the fullest at the start of summer, and thus, since people of long ago have been equating the sun to be "god" or the supreme being, then I find it fascinating that Father's day roughly falls on a summer solstice.

Happy Father's Day to all fathers out theere, and Happy Summer Solstice to all!

-RODION