International Yoga Day coincides with Summer Solstice
The solstice holds high relevance in religions and cultures across the world.
Hyderabad: June 21, Summer Solstice, is the longest day of the year with 17 hours of daylight. The solstice holds high relevance in religions and cultures across the world, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had convinced the United Nations to observe June 21 as International Yoga day as Summer Solstice marks the sun’s Dakshinayana movement.
Mr Raghunandan Kumar, director of Planetary Society of India, said, “Solstice occurs twice a year (like Equinox), one in summer and the other in winter… Traditionally solstice has high relevance in religious and traditional cultures across the world. The seasons, as we understand, is because of equinox and solstices.
“At one stage the sun rises between east and southeast, and then again east and then northeast. These stages are called Uttarayana and Dakshinayana.”
June 21 is the day when the northern hemisphere receives the most direct sunlight, which causes the day to be the longest of the year. After this date, the course of sunlight gets more south-bound and we get Winter Solstice on December 22.