Summer Solstice

Summer Solstice

Today is the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere – the longest day of the year.  Quite a few naked events happen on the summer solstice.  We'll briefly cover three: Stonehenge, the Fremont Solstice Parade, and the Jāņi festival in Latvia.

The stones at Stonehenge are aligned with the spot where the sun rises on the summer solstice.  Stonehenge is sacred to Druids, but it has also long attracted counterculture types.  This is a 1976 photo of a naked hippie on the wrong side of a barbed wire fence at Stonehenge on the summer solstice.

But other naked guys manage to get in for the solstice celebration.  This shot is from 2002.

Seattle holds the Fremont Solstice Parade on the Saturday on or before the solstice.  It starts with a naked bike ride in which cyclists paint their bodies.  The body painting can get quite elaborate, like this guy in 2007.

Or it can be much simpler, like these guys.

The police don't interfere.  In Seattle, public nudity is legal as long as it isn't “likely to cause reasonable affront or alarm.”

Did this Fremont Solstice Parade guy forget to get painted?  At least the carpet matches the drapes.

Latvia celebrates the summer solstice with the festival of Jāņi.  Traditional celebrations include making a bonfire and getting naked and skinny-dipping in a lake, which is where the people are headed in this video.

The summer solstice is also Hike Naked Day in the U.S.  We'll see that tomorrow.