A new season starts this week.
The solstice ushered in summer with 15½ hours of light Monday, marking the longest day of the year in New Hampshire. That’s about 6½ more hours of light than the shortest day of the year back in December.
It turns out that 2016 was an unusual year for the summer solstice. The event coincided with the “strawberry moon,” a June full moon named by early Native American tribes to mark the beginning of the strawberry season. The summer solstice and the strawberry moon only coincide about once every 70 years.
That makes this year’s summer solstice a once-in-a-lifetime experience, said Katherine Stone, operations manager of Stonehenge, U.S.A, a more than 4,000-year-old astronomical calendar created from stone in Salem.
In ancient times, the travels of the sun were recorded by stone circles called “stonehenges,” like at the famous World Heritage Site in Wiltshire, England. These stones were oriented to highlight the rising of the sun on the days of the summer and winter solstice. On those days, the sun rises and sets in correspondence with the stones.
The Stonehenge rock formation in Salem was open from sunrise to sunset Monday for visitors who wanted to pay tribute to the site and watch the sun set over the stones. The organization also held a summer solstice ritual event on Sunday that involved prayer, singing and dancing.
Stone said the site was a lot busier this year than in years past. By Monday afternoon, it had already seen 500 visitors.
She speculated the large crowds might have something to do with the strawberry moon.
“The solstice is usually a pretty busy time, but the full moon is drawing a lot more people out here,” she said.
In Portsmouth, Deadwick’s Ethereal Emporium, a magic and witchcraft retail shop, commemorated the start of summer with a lantern processional to commemorate a “joyous time and a time to purify and remove blocks and obstacles in your life.”
The processional was scheduled down to the Portsmouth waterfront, where lanterns were to be released into the sky with positive messages for the season to come.
“The lanterns are meant to follow in with the idea of having the light go on as long as it possibly can,” Curator and General Manager Knate Higgins said.
“It’s a great day to be in nature and be surrounded with friends that your connect with on a spiritual level,” Higgins added.
Stone said the summer solstice has some spiritual significance to her.
“It’s usually a very happy day, and very energizing,” she said. “It feels like a new beginning.”
(Leah Willingham can be reached at 369-3305, lwillingham@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @LeahMWillingham.)