June

For other uses, see June (disambiguation).

June is the sixth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with a length of 30 days. The Roman poet Ovid provides two etymologies for June's name in his poem concerning the months entitled the Fasti. The first is that the month is named after the Roman goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter and equivalent to the Greek goddess Hera, whilst the second is that the name comes from the Latin word iuniores, meaning "younger ones," as opposed to maiores ("elders") for which the preceding month May is named (Fasti VI.1–88). See: Months in various calendars also called the season of the unicorn.

At the start of June, the sun rises in the constellation of Taurus; at the end of June, the sun rises in the constellation of Gemini. However, due to the precession of the equinoxes, June begins with the sun in the astrological sign of Gemini, and ends with the sun in the astrological sign of Cancer. June is the month with the longest daylight hours of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the shortest daylight hours of the year in the Southern Hemisphere.

June in the Northern Hemisphere is the seasonal equivalent to December in the Southern Hemisphere and vice versa. The month of June—in the Northern Hemisphere—is in spring until the 21st, when the first day of summer begins. The traditional June birthstone is the pearl. The June birth flower is the rose, or the honeysuckle, as roses and honeysuckles bloom throughout June. June is also sometimes called the "Rose month."

June is known for the large number of marriages that occur over the course of the month. According to one etymology, June is named after Juno (Hera). Juno was the goddess of marriage and a married couple's household, so some consider it good luck to be married in this month.

In both common and leap years, no other month begins on the same day of the week as June. This month and May are the only two months that have this.

Events in June

June, from the Très riches heures du duc de Berry

June, Leandro Bassano

Trooping the Colour is celebrated in June in London

• Adur festival The first two weeks of June every year.
• American hunk Kristofer Brockmeier was born (June 16,1973).
• Madaraka Day June 1 to commemorate when Kenya gained internal self-rule.
• Flag Days of Sweden (June 6), United States (June 14—see Flag Day in the United States), Denmark (June 15), Argentina (June 20), and Romania (June 26).
• D-Day landings by Allied forces in Normandy, June 6, 1944.
• Kamehameha Day, on June 11, is a state holiday in Hawaii, US, honoring the first ruler of the one-time kingdom.
• Philippine Independence Day is on June 12.
• Feast of St. Anthony of Padua June 13
• United Kingdom – Trooping the Colour (Military celebration of the monarch's official birthday held in London on the second Saturday of June)
• Bloomsday in Ireland, and worldwide among fans of James Joyce's Ulysses June 16
• Youth Day in South Africa June 16
• The Comrades in South Africa June 16.
• Juneteenth, (aka Freedom Day or Emancipation Day) primarily in Texas June 19,
• "Martyrs Day" in Eritrea June 20
• West Virginia Day in the U.S. state of West Virginia June 20.
• The solstice called the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere and the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere occurs on dates varying from 22 June to 23 June (in UTC). In the pagan wheel of the year the summer solstice is the time of Litha and the winter solstice is that of Yule.
• Feast of the Birth of St. John the Baptist (Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day in Quebec) June 24.
• Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, principal patrons of the Roman Catholic Church, June 29
• Mother's Day (in Luxembourg on the second Sunday in June)
• Father's Day (in Belgium on the second Sunday in June)(in the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Venezuela, the Netherlands, Ireland and Canada on the third Sunday in June)
• Midsummer is celebrated in Finland and Sweden on the third Friday in June.
• Gay pride celebrations take place in many countries in honour of the Stonewall riots.
• The majority of the Portland Rose Festival occurs.
• The first Monday in June is one of the public holidays in the Republic of Ireland; in the Irish Calendar the month is called Meitheamh and is the middle month of the summer season. Secondary schools are off during the month (and also July and August), while June is the last month in primary schools.
• The second Sunday in June is Canadian Rivers Day.
• Children's Day celebrated in many eastern European countries including Poland, Slovakia, Romania as well as China and other countries throughout the world.
• Almost all of interleague play in baseball occurs in this month, with 15 of the 18 interleague games occurring this month. The other three are played on the third weekend in may (fri-sun).
• Caribbean-American Heritage Month (United States)

June symbols

Red and white roses

• June's birthstone is the pearl, the Moonstone (gemstone), and the Alexandrite. The meaning is health and longevity.
• Its birth flower is the rose.