Father's Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of June
21/06/2026
Summer Solstice 2026 夏至 Xià Zhì
All you need to know: June solstice 2019
The June solstice – your signal to celebrate summer in the Northern Hemisphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere – is today, June 21, 2023, at 15:54 UTC. That’s 10:54 a.m. CDT in North America on June 21. Translate UTC to your time. For us in the Northern Hemisphere, this solstice marks the longest day of the year. Early dawns. Long days. Late sunsets. Short nights. The sun at its height each day, as it crosses the sky. Meanwhile, south of the equator, winter begins.
What is a solstice? Ancient cultures knew that the sun’s path across the sky, the length of daylight, and the location of the sunrise and sunset all shifted in a regular way throughout the year. They built monuments, such as Stonehenge, to follow the sun’s yearly progress.
Today, we know that the solstice is an astronomical event, caused by Earth’s tilt on its axis and its motion in orbit around the sun.
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The sunset has been making its way north, as illustrated in this 2016 photo composite by Abhijit Juvekar
The June solstice – your signal to celebrate summer in the Northern Hemisphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere – is today, June 21, 2023, at 15:54 UTC. That’s 10:54 a.m. CDT in North America on June 21. Translate UTC to your time. For us in the Northern Hemisphere, this solstice marks the longest day of the year. Early dawns. Long days. Late sunsets. Short nights. The sun at its height each day, as it crosses the sky. Meanwhile, south of the equator, winter begins.
What is a solstice? Ancient cultures knew that the sun’s path across the sky, the length of daylight, and the location of the sunrise and sunset all shifted in a regular way throughout the year. They built monuments, such as Stonehenge, to follow the sun’s yearly progress.
Today, we know that the solstice is an astronomical event, caused by Earth’s tilt on its axis and its motion in orbit around the sun.
read more
What is a Solstice?
A solstice is one of the two times of the year when the positioning and tilt of Earth relative to the sun results in the most amount of daylight time or the least amount of daylight time in a single day. There are two solstices during the year: one that occurs around June 20–22 (usually June 20 or 21) and one that occurs around December 20–23 (usually December 21 or 22).
The solstices are traditionally considered to mark the start of summer and winter. But which season begins with each solstice depends on which hemisphere you’re in. In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice occurs in June and the winter solstice occurs in December. In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s the opposite. The summer solstice results in the longest day of the year, meaning it has the most time of daylight, and the winter solstice results in the shortest day of the year, meaning it has the longest period of darkness.
In contrast, an equinox is one of the two times of the year when the amount of daylight and nighttime hours are just about of equal length. The two equinoxes occur around March 20–21 and September 22–23. In the Northern Hemisphere, the vernal equinox (or spring equinox) occurs in March and the autumnal equinox occurs in September. In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s the opposite.
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19/06/2026
Duān Wǔ Jié 端午节 Dumpling Festival 2026
Zong Zi” (糯米) Bak Chang
Duān Wǔ Jié 端午节 Festival
Zongzi is a must-have food during Duanwu Festival. In ancient China, these traditional rice dumplings were used as an offering to pay tribute to ancestors and deities. Later, according to legend, after poet Qu Yuan plunged himself into the Miluo River, people threw zongzi into the water to divert fish away from his body. Zongzi are pyramid-shaped glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in reed or bamboo leaves and tied with colored thread. They are prepared with a wide range of fillings, including jujube and bean paste, fresh meat, ham and egg yolk.
Duanwu Festival is also called the Dragon Boat Festival. It's said that the festival may originate from dragon worship and that dragon boat racing reflects a reverence for the dragon deity. Folk tales also suggest that dragon boat racing is connected with the ancient poet Qu Yuan. After Qu Yuan drowned himself in the river to mourn the fall of his motherland, local people raced out in their boats to try and save him. Later, dragon boat racing became an indispensable part of the festival. Nowadays, it has developed into a sport which combines both Chinese tradition and the modern sporting spirit.
Realgar wine is a kind of Chinese liquor seasoned with realgar. Legend has it that an old doctor poured a jug of realgar wine into the water where poet Qu Yuan drowned himself, hoping to make all the creatures in the river drunk and prevent them from eating the poet's body. Past generations also used realgar as a pesticide against mosquitoes in the hot summer, and as an antidote against poison in ancient times. Now, drinking realgar wine has become a tradition during Duanwu Festival. Chinese people often hang mugwort above their doors to deter insects. In ancient times, people believed that hanging mugwort, calamus or pomegranate flowers could get rid of misfortune or drive away evil spirits. Also, venomous animals — such as snakes, centipedes and scorpions — were said to appear starting from the fifth day of the fifth month, and so people would hang mugwort or calamus, take long walks, and wear perfumed medicine pouches to keep venomous animals away and prevent diseases while promoting health and well-being.
Dragon Boat Festival: Names, Origins, Traditions, Greetings
Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional Chinese holiday which falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, which is in late May or June on the Gregorian calendar.
Dragon Boat Festival is one of the four top traditional Chinese festivals, along with the Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, and Mid-Autumn Festival. It is called Dragon Boat Festival, or Longzhou Jie (龙舟节) in Chinese, because of its close association with dragon boats. Chinese people attach great cultural significance to dragons. The two main activities during the festival are eating zongzi (rice dumplings) and boat races, and both are related to dragons. Zongzi have long been thrown into rivers as offerings and sacrifices to the Dragon God on lunar month 5 day 5, while dragon boats are used in races traditionally held on this day. So, it is also called the Dragon Boat Festival.
In addition to China, many other Asian countries also celebrate this festival. In Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Taiwan, it is known as Bak Chang Festival (‘Dumpling Festival'). Learn more facts about the Dragon Boat Festival:
- The Festival Date Varies Each Year!
- It Is an Important Public Holiday
- It Is One of the National/UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Items
- It Is a Traditional Festival to Worship an Ancient Chinese Poet — Qu Yuan
- The Most Ceremonial Activity Is Held — Dragon Boat Racing
- Eating Zongzi is the Most Popular Custom
- Special Plants are Hung on Doors to Discourage Diseases
05/06/2026
World Environment Day 2026
The foods we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink and the climate that makes our planet habitable all come from nature.
Yet, these are exceptional times in which nature is sending us a message:
- To care for ourselves we must care for nature.
- It’s time to wake up. To take notice. To raise our voices.
- It’s time to build back better for People and Planet.
- This World Environment Day, it’s Time for Nature.
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World Environment Day
World Environment Day (WED) is celebrated on 5 June every year, and is the United Nations' principal vehicle for encouraging awareness and action for the protection of the environment. First held in 1974, it has been a flagship campaign for raising awareness on environmental issues emerging from marine pollution, human overpopulation, and global warming, to sustainable consumption and wildlife crime. World Environment Day has grown to become a global platform for public outreach, with participation from over 143 countries annually. Each year, WED has provided a new theme that major corporations, NGOs, communities, governments and all celebrities worldwide adopt to advocate environmental causes.
World Environment Day was established in 1972 by the United Nations on the first day of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, resulting from discussions on the integration of human interactions and the environment. Two years later, in 1974 the first WED was held with the theme "Only One Earth". Even though WED celebration have been held annually since 1974, in 1987 the idea for rotating the centre of these activities through selecting different host countries began.
For almost five decades, World Environment Day has been raising awareness, supporting action, and driving changes for the environment
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