Why not just call the Naval Observatory?

I hope you have a wonderful Summer Solstice this Friday. I know I plan to.

I have my own way of celebrating the solstice. Rather than watching the sun rise, which comes at 6:03 a.m., I choose to observe the sun set at 8:38 p.m. I’m not a morning person, you see.

Solstice day for us is 14 hours and 34 minutes from start to finish, the longest day of the year. It’ll already be three seconds shorter Saturday than Friday. The days will continue to shorten until the Winter Solstice on Dec. 22. I don’t celebrate the Winter Solstice. Too much wrapping up in layers just to go out and look at the sun.

Summer Solstice is also known in some parts of the world as Midsummer. That’s kind of confusing since the solstice is the official start of summer, so how could it already be midsummer?

I guess if you live somewhere like northern Europe, where 75 is a heat wave, summer is not as big a deal. For that reason, the focus is more on organizing festivals and orgies and that sort of thing. Anything to forget that you can’t go around in shorts and tank tops while you’re outside looking up at the sun.

The reason for the Summer Solstice is that the North Pole has reached its maximum tilt toward the sun, which is 23.44 degrees. Technically, the solstice is precisely when the sun reaches its highest position in the sky that day.

On the other hand, the South Pole will reach its minimum tilt toward the sun Friday. Folks down there could celebrate the Winter Solstice — if they wanted to. I’m not sure how penguins feel about such things.

The people in Ushuaia, the capital of Tierra del Fuego on the southern tip of South America, don’t have a lot of time to celebrate the Winter Solstice. Their day is only seven hours and 12 minutes long. By the time they finish their winter squash casserole, it’s time for the rum-spiced eggnog.

Why not just start with the ’nog and forget about the sun?

In the Arctic Circle the sun is visible all day on the Summer Solstice. On the other side of the world, the Antarctic Circle sees no sun at all, so the day is called Polar Night.

Even more reason for the rum-spiced eggnog.

One of the major celebrations of the Summer Solstice is observed at Stonehenge in England. That’s the ancient site where the Druids erected those gigantic rocks like a house of cards so the sun would appear through the openings precisely on the two annual solstices. Sounds like a lot of work just for a calendar.

Anyway, people from all over the world descend on Stonehenge each Summer Solstice so they can watch the sun rise through the cracks, take selfies and make fools of themselves. The locals have mixed feelings about the tourists — not caring for the crowds but adoring their money.

In Scandinavia, festivals generally celebrate the summer and the fertility of the Earth. In Sweden and Finland, people dance around Maypoles. Bonfires are lit and homes are decorated with flower garlands, greenery and tree branches. Sounds like the Winter Solstice, to me.

In the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Midsummer is an occasion to travel to the countryside and connect with nature. Many people light bonfires and stay up all night drinking, singing and dancing.

They resemble some people I know.

Ancient China celebrated the Summer Solstice with a feminine focus and the forces of “yin.” That stuck us guys, the “yang” dudes, with the Winter Solstice.

Seems like a setup to me. The gals get to go out in their sundresses during the warm season while we dumb brutes have to wrap up in thick furs, boots and capes just to take a frigid peek at a pale sun.

I don’t need something like that just to set my watch.

Anyway, enjoy the summer and try not to stare at the sun.