Today is Midsummer’s Day, which is often confused with the summer solstice, and this prompted Brian Moore, of Barry, Glamorgan, to ask: “How is the 24th of June calculated as Midsummer’s Day?”

The summer solstice usually falls on June 21 and is an astronomical event, the longest hours of daylight in the year when the Sun is highest in our sky at noon. However, Midsummer’s Day marks the halfway point in the calendar year and was one of the old Quarter Days: Lady Day (March 25), Midsummer’s Day (June 24), Michaelmas (September 29) and Christmas (December 25). Generally speaking, these were not hugely popular dates as they were often when rents, rates and taxes were due — and our tax year still starts on Lady Day, although the new Gregorian calendar shifted the date from March 25 to April 6.

The eve of Midsummer’s Day used to be celebrated with fires lit on hilltops in praise of the Sun. The medieval church translated this pagan festival into St John’s Day, and in folklore this was a day for a long-range forecast, when it was said that rain falling on St John’s Day gave warning of a wet harvest to come. All the more reason to hope that today turns out dry and sunny.