June is the month Israelis spend waiting for the school year to end while getting used to the heat. It holds almost no dates (Shavuot falls in it in many years, and after that the Hebrew calendar empties out) and it closes on the longest day of the year. On the Hebrew calendar it usually spans Sivan and the start of Tammuz.
Juno, and why people marry in June
June is named for Juno, queen of the Roman gods, wife of Jupiter, and patron of marriage and of women. One of her titles was Juno Pronuba, the one who leads the bride to the groom, and from it came the Roman belief that a wedding in her month brings luck.
That belief has survived two thousand years without losing altitude. June is still one of the busiest wedding months in the United States and Europe, and few of the people marrying in it realise they are honouring a Roman goddess. In Israel, as it happens, the wedding season starts slightly later: many couples wait out the Omer, during which weddings are traditionally avoided.
Ovid, who offered an alternative for May as well, traced June instead to the iuniores, the young. That one has never been settled either.
June around the world
June's great event is not a festival but a phenomenon: the solstice, on the 20th or 21st. It is the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, and in northern Scandinavia the sun barely sets on it at all.
In Sweden and Finland Midsummer is one of the two biggest holidays of the year, arguably the biggest: everyone leaves the city, a pole is raised and dressed with flowers, and the dancing round it goes on until morning, which never quite arrives, because the night hardly got dark. A few days later Spain, Portugal and parts of Europe keep St John's Eve, a night of bonfires on the beach that began as a way of driving off evil spirits.
And China keeps the Dragon Boat Festival in this month, set to the fifth day of the fifth lunar month and therefore drifting between late May and June. Its long-boat races have turned, over the last few decades, into a competitive sport in dozens of countries.
What June weather is like in Israel
In June the Israeli weather stops surprising anyone. No rain falls at all, the sky is clear almost every day, and the difference between one day and the next becomes negligible.
Tel Aviv typically runs between about 21°C and 29°C, though high humidity makes the heat feel stronger than the numbers suggest. Jerusalem is drier and easier: roughly 17°C at night and 29°C by day, with a wide gap between the two. Eilat is already at 25°C to 39°C. The sea reaches about 26°C and stays comfortable right through to autumn.
It is also the month with the most daylight in the year: sunset in central Israel reaches about 19:50, and the evening stretches so far that the pavements only fill up after eight. The peak of the heat is still ahead: it arrives in August.
Jewish dates that fall in June
June usually spans Sivan and the start of Tammuz, and it is one of the emptiest months on the Hebrew calendar:
- Shavuot: 6 Sivan, the festival that closes the counting of the Omer and marks both the giving of the Torah and the season of first fruits. It falls between mid-May and mid-June, and in many years lands here, early in the month.
- Jerusalem Day: 28 Iyar, arriving at the end of May or in the first days of June.
- The Fast of 17 Tammuz: opens the three weeks leading to Tisha B'Av. It falls between late June and late July, and in early years it closes the month.
Beyond these, June is the Hebrew calendar's quiet interval: after Shavuot there is not a single marked date until the month is out.
Every date of the year in one table: the annual holidays calendar.
Common questions about June
Which Hebrew months does June cover?
Usually Sivan and the beginning of Tammuz. Every cell in the grid above carries both the civil and the Hebrew date.
When is Rosh Chodesh in June?
Most years June carries Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, and it runs for two days, because Sivan always has thirty. In early years Rosh Chodesh Sivan appears at the start of June instead, and that one is a single day. This year: Rosh Chodesh Tammuz: 17-18/6/34.
How many days are in June?
Thirty.
When is Shavuot?
On 6 Sivan, between mid-May and mid-June, this year on 24-25/5/34. The Shavuot page carries the date and times.
Is anything a day off in June?
Only Shavuot, and only in years when it falls in this month. The rest of June is an unbroken run of working and school days, with the school year ending at the close of it.
Printing a June calendar
The grid at the top of this page shows June whole, from the 1st to the 30th: the civil date and the matching Hebrew date in every cell, the Sabbaths and their Torah portions, and any festival falling in the month. In a month nearly free of dates it is mostly a planning sheet: the end of the school year, exams, and a holiday about to start. The button above the grid prints it to a single page, portrait or landscape.
- Every date of the year with its own page: the annual holidays calendar
- The full printable year: home page
- For a Hebrew-month view, in which Sivan and Tammuz each appear whole: Hebrew month calendar