It marks the start of summer, and for farmers it marks the completion of spring sowing and the start of summer hay-making. Basically, the summer solstice is an astronomical event while midsummer is a day of celebration.
This year, the summer solstice occured on Thursday, June 20th, 2024 at 8:51 PM (GMT). Officially, the solstice is not a day, but rather, the exact moment in time when the number of daylight hours are at their maximum. By contrast, Midsummer's Day is observed annually on June 24th in the Baltic states, where it is an official holiday. Interestingly, June 24th is also an official holiday in Québec (Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day) but is not an official holiday in the rest of Canada.
