June 21st is

Atheist Solidarity Day

Daylight Appreciation Day *

Day of the Gong *

International Day of Yoga *

Peaches ‘N’ Cream Day

World Make Music Day *
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MORE! Jean-Paul Sartre, Mary McCarthy and Benazir Bhutto, click

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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

SOLSTICE –
Summer Solstice/Northern Hemisphere (Celtic: Alban Heruin –Pagan:Litha)
Winter Solstice/Southern Hemisphere (Celtic: Alban Arthuan – Pagan: Yule)

Bolivia – Solsticio de Invierno/Año Nuevo Aymara
(Winter Solstice/Aymaran New Year )

Canada – Northwest and Yukon Territories:
National Aboriginal Day

France – Fête de la Musique
(Solstice music fest)

Greenland – Ullortuneq (National Day)

Togo – Martyrs’ Day

Turkmenistan:  Saparmurat Niyazov Day
(election of first Turkmenistan president)

United Kingdom – Glastonbury, Somerset:
Glastonbury Festival (opening day)
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On This Day in HISTORY

1732 – Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach born, ninth son of J.S. Bach; appointed harpsichordist at Bückeburg, and later Konzertmeister

1734 – Marie-Joseph Angélique, a slave in New France, is put to death, having been convicted of setting the fire that destroyed much of  Old Montreal. Scholars do not agree about her guilt or innocence, but her testimony gives insight into slavery in Canada then

1788 – New Hampshire becomes the ninth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution, and it officially goes into effect

1834 – Cyrus Hall McCormick receives a patent for his reaping machine

1883 – Daisy Turner born, American storyteller, noted for oral recording of her family history traced back to Africa and England

1905 –  Jean-Paul Sartre born, French existentialist philosopher, author-playwright

1906 – Grete Sultan born, German-American pianist; gave her last recital at Merkin Concert Hall in New York at the age of 90

1912 – Mary McCarthy, American author and liberal activist; her most successful novel, The Group, remains on the Best Seller List for 2 years

1931 – Margaret Heckler born, American politician, member of the United States House of Representatives, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Ambassador to Ireland

1932 – Lalo Schifrin born, Argentine composer and conductor, noted for film and TV scores, including the theme for Mission: Impossible

1947 –  Shirin Ebadi born, Iranian lawyer, judge, and human rights activist, recipient of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize

1953 – Benazir Bhutto born, Pakistani stateswoman and politician, Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms

1957 – Ellen Fairclough is sworn in as Canada’s first woman Cabinet Minister, as Secretary of State; also a Member of Parliament (1950-1963)

1964 – Three civil rights workers disappear in Philadelphia, Mississippi. Their bodies are found buried in an earthen dam 6 weeks later. Eight Ku Klux Klan members go to prison on federal conspiracy charges; none serves more than six years (see 2005 entry)

1972 – The first Stonehenge Free Festival is held, culminating on the summer solstice

1973 – In Miller v. California, U.S. Supreme Court determines that states may ban materials found to be obscene – lacking “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value” – according to local “community standards” – the decision vacates the jury verdict, and the case remanded back to the California Superior Court

1978 – The musical Evita premieres in London

1985 – Scientists testing skeletal remains exhumed in Brazil announce they are the remains of Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele

1986 – Genesis album Invisible Touch is No.1  on the UK charts

1989 – The Supreme Court rules that burning the American flag as a form of political protest is protected by the First Amendment

1993 – English mathematician Andrew Wiles proves last theorem of Fermat

2001 – Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is the first Hispanic woman to be honored on a U.S. postage stamp

2003 – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth Harry Potter book by J. K. Rowling, is published worldwide in English

2004 – SpaceShipOne is the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight

2005 – Edgar Ray Killen, an 80-year-old former Ku Klux Klansman, is found guilty of manslaughter in the deaths of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Mississippi, 41 years to the day earlier (see 1964 entry)

2006 – Pluto’s newly discovered moons are officially named Nix & Hydra

2007 – The first World Make Music Day * is inspired by the Fête de la Musique celebration in Paris; now celebrated by a growing number of events in over 750 cities in 120 countries

2009 –Day of the Gong * is launched by GongtoGo.org

2014 – The United Nations recognizes International Day of Yoga

2015 – Daylight Appreciation Day * highlights natural light’s importance to our well-being

2016 – National Seashell Day * – annually on the Summer Solstice – sponsored by The Beaches of Ft. Myers & Sanibel to celebrate these jewels of the beach season

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