And when we observe the winter solstice six months from now, it's likely to be 80 degrees colder on the Fahrenheit scale. That's why I find it odd that there's so little public acknowledgement of this amazing point in the year's calendar, especially in a place like Minnesota, where winter lingers for almost five months. A few people I know will host solstice parties tonight, but for the vast majority of Americans, midsummer holds no special significance. The big summer holiday here is the Fourth of July, the anniversary of our Declaration of Independence from the English Crown and a day devoted to parades, picnics and fireworks. In many ways the Fourth of July fills in for midsummer, giving us a chance to set aside our chores and break out from the measured norms of everyday life.
Parties go on way past the usual hours and firecrackers bang, bang, bang all night long.
I find it curious that we ignore midsummer, which is an event rooted in nature itself, in favor of the Fourth of July, which is simply a date on the calendar. In fact, not even that, since the Declaration of Independence was formally approved on July 2, not July 4, and the actual signing of the document did not begin until August 2. Nothing really seems to have happened on July 4, 1776. But America is a nation that has always been defined by abstractions. We lack the long sweep of common history, inhabitation of land over countless generations, customs and culture forged through the centuries, or even blood ties, of other nations.