Summer Solstice

This Solar Festival is usually celebrated around the 20th or 21 of June each year. 

The evening before is known as Midsummer's Eve.

The Summer Solstice is one of the main Sabbats of the Wheel of the Year for Witched, Druids, Sun Worshipers and others.  Here the power of the Sun God is manifested in the flourishing of crops and Livestock.  Christianity, most likely a modification of Sun Worship,  has Christianized this sabbat into Saint John's Day for Saint John the Baptist. 

This is the time of the year that the Sun seems to stand still for about three days from about 21 thru about 23 June.  On 24 June the sun appears to start falling again from its highest point in the sky. 

The Sun is at its highest elevation in the sky on this date.

A significant day for Sun Worshipers.  The Feast of Saint John The Baptist is held on 24 June, which seems to be very close to the Summer Solstice, for some reason.  It has been said that the Freemasons used the date of the Feast of Saint John the Baptist as an important date (Instead of the date of the Summer Solstice) to avoid the wrath and unpleasant punishments meted out by the Catholic Church.  This may be true.

It is also the first day of Summer.

On the Summer Solstice the Sun will have an angle of inclination equal to:

 90 degrees - Latitude at your location + 23.5 degrees

At our latitude of about 41 Degrees North the Sun will be 90 - 41 + 23.5 or 72.5 degrees above the horizontal.