Monday, June 21, 2010

8th Annual SOLSTICE in Times Square - Yogafest 2010

Today, thousands of people gathered to practice yoga on the morning of the summer solstice in New York's Times Square. The eighth annual Solstice in Times Square event brought out thousands of participants to celebrate the year's longest day. 
In Chinese astronomy, the phenomenon known as Xiazhi roughly corresponds to the summer solstice – it begins when the sun reaches the celestial longitude of 90° and ends when its celestial longitude is 105°. Xiazhi usually begins around June 21, and ends around July 7, though the term sometimes refers in particular to the day when Sun is exactly at the celestial longitude of 90°. In the USA, Canada, and some other countries, the summer solstice is regarded as the start of summer. In other countries, including Ireland, the UK, China, and Japan, the summer solstice is regarded as midsummer. For example, in Ireland, summer begins on May 1 and ends on July 31. Similarly, traditional East Asian calendars refer to the summer solstice as the "extreme of summer" and not the start. (From timessquarenyc.org)

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