June is the sixth
month of
the
year in the
Gregorian calendar, with a length of 30
days. The Roman poet Ovid provides two
etymologies for June's name in his poem concerning the months
entitled the
Fasti. The first is that the month is named
after the
Roman goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter and equivalent to the
Greek goddess Hera, whilst the second is that the name comes from the
Latin word
iuniores, meaning "younger ones," as opposed to
maiores ("elders") for which the preceding month May is
named (
Fasti VI.1-88) . See:-
Months in various
calendars
At the start of June, the sun rises in the constellation of
Taurus; at the end of June,
the sun rises in the constellation of
Gemini. However, due to the
precession of the equinoxes, June begins with the
sun in the
astrological sign of
Gemini, and ends with the sun in the
astrological sign of
Cancer. June
is the month with the longest daylight hours of the year in the
Northern Hemisphere and the shortest daylight hours of the year in
the Southern Hemisphere.
June in
the Northern
Hemisphere
is the seasonal equivalent to December in the
Southern
Hemisphere
and vice versa. The month of June—in the
Northern Hemisphere—is in Spring until the 21st, when the first day
of summer begins. The traditional June
birthstone is the
pearl. The
June
birth flower is the
rose, or the
honeysuckle, as
roses and honeysuckles bloom throughout June. June is also
sometimes called the "Rose month."
June is known for the large number of
marriages that occur over the course of the month.
According to one etymology, June is named after
Juno (
Hera). Juno was
the goddess of marriage and a married couple's household, so some
consider it good luck to be married in this month.
In both common and leap years, no other month begins on the same
day of the week as June. This month and May are the only two months
that have this.
Events in June
June, from the
Très riches heures du duc de Berry
- Madaraka Day
June 1 to commemorate when Kenya
gained
internal self-rule.
- Flag Days of Sweden
(June 6), United States
(June 14 — see Flag Day in the United
States), Denmark
(June 15), Argentina
(June 20), and Romania
(June 26).
- D-Day landings by Allied forces in
Normandy, June 6th, 1944.
- Kamehameha Day,
on June 11, is a state holiday in Hawaii
, US
, honoring the first ruler of the one-time
kingdom.
- Philippine
Independence Day is on June 12.
- Feast of St. Anthony of
Padua June 13
- United Kingdom
– Trooping the
Colour (Military celebration of the monarch's official birthday
held in London
on the
second Saturday of June)
- Bloomsday in Ireland, and worldwide
among fans of James Joyce's Ulysses June
16
- Youth Day in South Africa June
16
- The Comrades in South Africa June
16.
- Juneteenth, (aka
Freedom Day or Emancipation Day) primarily in Texas
June 19,
- "Martyrs Day" in Eritrea
June 20
- West Virginia Day in the U.S. state of West Virginia June 20.
- The solstice called the Summer solstice
in the northern hemisphere and the Winter solstice in the southern
hemisphere occurs on dates varying from 22
June to 23 June (in UTC). In the pagan wheel of the year the summer solstice is
the time of Litha and the winter solstice is
that of Yule.
- Feast
of the Birth of St. John the
Baptist (Saint-Jean-Baptiste
Day in Quebec
) June 24.
- Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, principal patrons of the Roman Catholic Church, June 29
- Mother's Day (in
Luxembourg
on the second Sunday in June)
- Father's Day (in
Belgium
on the second Sunday in June) (in the United States
, the United Kingdom
, Mexico
, Venezuela
, the Netherlands
, Ireland
and Canada
on the third
Sunday in June)
- Midsummer
is celebrated in Finland
and Sweden
on the third
Friday in June.
- Gay pride celebrations take place in
many countries in honour of the Stonewall riots.
- The majority of the Portland
Rose Festival occurs.
- The first Monday in June is one of the public holidays in
the Republic of Ireland; in the Irish
Calendar the month is called Meitheamh and is
the middle month of the summer season. Secondary schools are off
during the month (and also July and August), while June is the last
month in primary schools.
- The second Sunday in June is Canadian Rivers Day.
- Children's Day celebrated in many
eastern European countries including Poland, Slovakia, Romania as
well as China and other countries throughout the world.
June symbols
- June's birthstone is the pearl, the
Moonstone , and the
Alexandrite. The meaning is health & longevity.
- Its birth flower is the rose.
References
- http://www.shgresources.com/gems/birthflowers/