The summer solstice falls between 20 and 22 June, depending on the year. In the Northern Hemisphere it marks the passage from spring into summer and the height of the bright half of the year, with its longest day and shortest night. Like the towering bonfires of Saint John’s Eve, the fire of the sun is now at its most powerful: a mature sun, radiant in the fullness of its strength. Its reign seems invincible… yet from this very moment it will begin to decline, just as the ripened grain bows its shining head before falling beneath the thirsty smile of the sickle.