In the Gregorian calendar, June is the sixth month of the year. In 2016 Sivan, the third (3rd) month in the Biblical Sacred Calendar, and the eleventh (11th) in Biblical Civil Calendar fall in June/July.

This is the season when harvest begins in the northern hemisphere even as winter season start toward the tropic of Capricorn in the southern Hemisphere.

June Solstice this year is on Monday June 20, 2016 at 22:34 UTC, ushering in the summer gate. In this season the sun is positioned directly over the tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere. This results in the phenomenon known as the Summer Solstice or the high summer in the northern hemisphere. A solstice occurs when the sun’s zenith is at its furthest point from the equator. On the June solstice, it reaches its northernmost point and the Earth’s North Pole tilts directly towards the sun, at about 23.4 degrees. This is also known as the northern solstice since it takes place when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere.

June 20, records the longest daylight hours and the shortest night time hours of 2016. In some areas of the northern hemisphere they experience sunlight for up to 23 hours. The southern hemisphere experiences the winter solstice during that same day recording the shortest daylight hours and longest nighttime hours.

The Jewish month LYAR continue through the first few days of June and ends as it transitions into the new month Sivan. The month SIVAN begins at sundown on Tuesday June 7th and ends at sundown Wednesday July 6, 2016.

This is the month when God gave the Torah to the nation of Israel.

Shavuot Holiday celebration this year begins at sundown Saturday June 11 until sundown Monday June 13, 2016. The word Shavuot (Pentecost) means “weeks,” and Shavuot marks the completion of the seven-week counting period between Passover and Shavuot, i.e. Easter to Pentecost.

Sivan is distinguished as the day on which the Jewish people arrived and camped before Mount Sinai. The Torah describes this with the phrase “Israel camped before the mountain” (Exodus 19:2), where the verb vayichan (“camped”) is stated in a singular form, in contrast to the other verbs in the narrative. This description denotes how the entire people camped “as one person, with one heart,” expressing true unity.

The giving of the Torah was a far-reaching spiritual event—one that touched the essence of the Jewish soul for all times. The sages have compared it to a wedding between God and the Jewish people. Shavuot also means “oaths,” since it was on this day that God swore eternal devotion to Israel, and we in the same manner, in return pledge everlasting loyalty to Him.

Giving of The Torah marks a major significance of Sivan since Torah is the Instruction of God and is seen as a tree of life