The name solstice (literally, “sun standing still”) is from the Latin. It refers to the momentary solar event that takes place twice a year, when the sun appears to stand still at the moment the earth's equatorial tilt is most extreme. In the Northern Hemisphere, this occurs twice a year, with the earth's longest day occurring at midsummer, and the shortest at midwinter. The solstices were almost universally observed as times of great significance by the ancients, and to the Celts, they represented the strength of the sun. Thus, the midsummer observances celebrated the virility of the sun god and the promise of bountiful harvest; the waning sun of midwinter signaled the death and subsequent rebirth of the god.