Little fanfare planned to greet solstice in area

There have been some long days recently, but not as long as Thursday will be. June 21 marks the first official day of summer and the longest day of the year.

The summer solstice occurs every year on June 21, when the sun is farthest to the north. The time between sunrise and sunset on this day is more than any other day.

Some cities have parades or festivals to mark the event, but it goes largely unnoticed in Cape Girardeau with no marching or scheduled festivities.

"I never really realized it," Cape native Chris Radford said about the once-a-year occurrence.

Elisha Urbaez says she comes from a superstitious family, but they never celebrated the first day of summer. She has a Dominican Republic-Arabian background.

"A lot of African-Arabians practice witchcraft," she said. "I don't, but some do."

The summer solstice is often related to religion. Sun temples can be found in India and Egypt, and Stonehenge is believed by some to be an astronomical observatory built to study the Earth's path and rotation.

"Some people get religion involved," said Ashley Hoffman, a recent Southeast Missouri State University graduate. She learned about the day when she attended Truman State University.

"That was the first time I had ever heard of it," she said. Hoffman began celebrating the summer solstice with friends.

"It's just more of a celebration of life. Being out in the elements," she said.

"I'm a biologist, so I'm really involved in nature," she said. Smaller, outdoor gatherings of were common in her circle of friends.

"It's sort of transcendent. It's not ever caught up in time and culture." The summer solstice can be celebrated anywhere in the world, she said.

The National Weather Service predicts the sunrise to happen at 4:36 a.m. and the sun to set at 7:29 p.m., giving Cape Girardeau about 15 hours of sunlight.

"When I was little, I tried to stay out as long as I could to catch fireflies," said Kristin Nelson, an occupational therapist at Missouri Veterans Home.

Nelson said she hasn't celebrated the day much more than that, but might do a little something this year.

"Maybe I'll have a cup of coffee when it comes up and a glass of wine when it goes down," she said.

charris@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 246