Summer Solstice
Also known as: Alban Heflin, Alben Heruin, All-couples day, Feast of Epona, Feast of St. John the Baptist, Feill-Sheathain, Gathering Day, Johannistag, Litha, Sonnwend, Thing-Tide, Vestalia. There is a list here of the numerous religious signifigances of this date. This is Midsummer and this night (the shortest) is the night that Titania dreams of a man with the head of an ass and falls in love with him.
This is the time for harvesting those plants which were put in the ground during the Vernal Equinox. This is the beginning of summer, though I have always been a little confused as to why summer only starts at the longest day of the year. The answer, as it turns out, is due to the fact that it takes a good long while to heat the oceans and their temperature runs a month or two behind the passage of the sun. The full moon in July is called the "Honey Moon" because, traditionally, the period following the Equinox is the best time to harvest honey from the hives.
Here at 47.27 ° N, 122.58 ° W sunrise was at 5:11AM, the solstice proper took place at 12:10PM, and sunset came at 9:11PM. Sixteen hours of daylight is a spit in the bucket for those living ten or more degrees closer to the Arctic Circle, but it is far enough north for me. I'm looking forward to the return of the shorter days. I like light, just not being poured down on my head. Twilight is good. So is dawn.