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Summer Solstice

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Happy Summer Solstice

Finding New Ways of Spirituality.

 

The Summer Solstice is held on the 20th or 21st of June.

 The word "Solstice" is derived from two Latin words:

"sol" meaning sun, and "sistere," to cause to stand still.

 So as the summer solstice approaches,

the noonday sun rises higher and higher in the sky

on each consecutive day. On the solstice,

it rises an to its highest.

So it seems like it is "standing still."

Therefore the word 'solstice' means "standing still sun".

The earth spins around its axis

(an axis is an imaginary line going through the Earth

between the north and south poles).

The axis is tilted somewhat off the plane of the earth's revolution

 around the sun. The tilt of the axis is 23.5 degrees;

this tilt creates out four seasons.

For several months of the year, one half of the earth

receives more direct rays of the sun than the other half.

Then it is reversed.

Solstice happens when because of the earth's tilt,

the northern hemisphere is leaning as close as

 it can to the sun and therefore, the sun has its highest arc in the sky.

It marks the longest day of the year

(in the Northern Hemisphere) and is the shortest night.

It marks the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere

and at the same time initiates the beginning of winter

in the southern hemisphere.

Summer occurs in a particular hemisphere due

to that hemis-phere receiving more direct rays of the sun

than the opposite hemisphere where it is winter.

In winter, the sun's energy hits the earth

at oblique angles & is thus less concentrated.

The sun is at its highest and strongest,

 a pivot point from which the light

will grow steadily weaker and dimmer.

 

Joyous Time

Significance of the summer solstice was significant

because in pre-historic times,

summer was a joyous time of the year in the northern latitudes.

The various signs of winter disappeared like

snow, frozen ground or ground frost, chilly breezes and dampness.

This made way for the various signs of the summer,

namely buds, new leaves, insects and plants for medicine and food.

There was a feeling of security as the storage of food

had reached its bottom and the summer assured people

that prosperity would return.

 

The Poles are Different

                         

On June 21, there are 24 hours of daylight

north of the Arctic Circle (66.5° north of the equator)

and 24 hours of darkness south of

the Antarctic Circle (66.5° south of the equator).

The sun's rays are directly overhead

along the Tropic of Cancer (the latitude line at 23.5° north,

 passing through Mexico, Saharan Africa, and India) on June 21.

Discovering and Marking

 

Ancient people used four primative ways of marking

the solstices and equinoxes. The first way was

the creation of spot lighting effects on the walls of passages,

chambers or caves. Carved or painted symbols would be

struck by a beam of light at sunrise or sunset

on one of the solstices or equinoxes.

This method was used in Newgrange, an ancient chamber in Ireland.

A second method used was measuring the shadow of

an upright pillar usually at noontime.

In temperate zones, shadows are shortest

at the summer solstice, and longest in midwinter.

This was used by Perubians, Babylonians, Ionian Greeks, and the Chinese.

A third custom employed by central American tribes

centered around a specially prepared ceremonial structure.

Only at noon on the longest day of the year would the sun

directly shine through a hole or tube in the ceiling

and onto a specific spot on the ground.

The fourth way to indicate the solstices was to watch,

from a fixed position, where on the horizon

the sun set over a period of years.

The use of this last method was generally used throughout Europe, Asia,

and the Americas. Stonehenge, in England,

assimilated this one. The summer solstice sunrise is marked here.

The Karnack temple in Egypt also intergrated the solstice alignments.

 

This is the turning point of the year

The solstice observance comes from many cultures

and has its roots in the older more ancient traditions

long before Cristianity or any of its contemporary religions.

Among those observing the solstice were the Druid Celts,

Chinese, Swedes, Roman, Essenes, Gauls,

many native tribes of North and South America

including the Natches and Hopis to name a few,

the Slavs, Germans, Babylonians, Ionian Greeks, Peruvians and more.

Since Christianity could not prevent people

from celebrating the old believes and celebrations,

 they created new ones alongside of the old ones

in the hope that the others would be discarded and forgotten.

Midsummer Day- Europe

 

Although the summer solstice is the longest day of the year,

 when the sun is at its highest point and officially marks

the first official day of summer,

in Europe it was considered the middle of summer.

 And just as Christmas was the replacement

for the winter solstice festival of Yule,

the feast of St. John the Baptist was put in place of the Summer Solstice.

 And this counter-balances the winter solstice for Christ,

as St. John was considered the forerunner to Jesus Christ.

The Church told people that Midsummer fires should

represent St. John instead of the sun,

however it took a long time before the rites and

their meaning changed for the people.

"Midsummer is the time when the sun reaches

the peak of its power, the earth is lush and green,

and holds the promise of an abundant harvest.

Mother Goddess is heavily pregnant,

and the God is at the peak of manhood and

is honored in his facade as the supreme sun.

For the ancients it is a time for divination and

healing rituals. Many magical tools such as divining rods

and wands were traditionally created during this period.

The mysterious stones of Stonehenge

in England build in stages between 3000 and 1500BC,

the main axis is aligned on the midsummer sunrise.

It was probably used for ritual rather than scientific purposes.

In addition there are four "station stones"

within the monument that form a rectangle

whose shorter side also points in the direction

of the midsummer sunrise. We can only speculate

that the solstices was probably a very important celebration

for these ancient folk.

The Summer solstice was celebrated by the Germanic tribes

and their European neighbors, the Celts and Slavs with huge bon fires.

 Lovers would jump over the flames that brought luck.

They believed that the crops would grow as high as they could jump.

Young maidens could find their husbands.

The fire also banished demons and bad spirits.

They also generated good magic

to increase the sun energy for the whole growing season.

The Druids celebrated it as the wedding of Heaven and Earth.

It was celebrated as the night of fire festivals, of love magic,

love oracles and divination. It had to do with lovers and predictions,

when pairs of lovers would jump

 through the luck-bringing flames,

maidens would find out about their future husband,

and spirits and demons were banished.

It was about cleansing the negative and

welcoming in the new and the positive.

Traditions and customs regarding health and fertility for fields,

 domestic animals and humans took place.

Celebrations with parades, pageants, plays

and festivals in the market place,

the town green or in the forests were prevalent.

Midsummer Fertility Unions

 

The summer solstice is intuitively linked with fertility

and sexuality by people everywhere.

Formally there were ceremonies symbolic of marriage

taking place at midsummer.

In Sardenis, solstice couples were known as sweethearts of St. John

and their ritual featured pots of sprouting grain

emphasizing the connection between sexuality

in humans and fertility in nature.

In the month of March, a young man of the village would present

himself to a girl requesting she be his sweetheart.

When accepted, a few weeks later a girl would make a pot out of cork

 and plant barley and wheat seeds.

The plants had matured by midsummer and

the couple dressed up to go to the church accompanied

by adults and children.

They brought the pot of grain against the door and

sat in a circle eating eggs, herbs and wine.

Afterwards they sang and danced in circles until the evening.

This magical rite was designed

to make woods grow green, flowers bloom, etc.

Sexual unions during these ceremonies were

more an essential part of the rites.

The people believed that the marriage of trees

 and plants could not be fertile

without the real uniting of human beings

joining in a sexual union.

Honeymoon

 

The first full moon in June is called the Honey Moon

and it is the best time to harvest honey from the hives.

This was traditionally the month for weddings

because many ancient peoples believed

that the "grand [sexual] union" of the Goddess and God

occurred in early May at Beltaine.

Tradition says that it was unlucky to compete with the deities,

so many couples delayed their weddings until June.

This month remains a favorite month for marriage today.

In some traditions, "newly wed couples were fed dishes

and beverages that featured honey for the first month of their married life

to encourage love and fertility.

Hence the name given to the holiday

immediately after the ceremony: The Honeymoon."

The month of June may have been named for

Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage.

Other names for the Summer Solstice are Alban Heflin,

Alben Heruin, All-couples day, Feast of Epona,

Feast of St. John the Baptist, Feill-Sheathain, Gathering Day,

Johannistag, Litha, Midsummer, Sonnwend, Thing-Tide, Vestalia, etc.

During this time when it is the middle of the summer,

it is a time when the feminine earth energies

are at their height.

Traditionally, women were the healers and they used herbs for this reason.

Herbs popular at this time are geranium,

thyme, pennyroyal, chamomile and mugwort

which was the herb of St. John.

As part of the summer solstice festival,

herbs were thrown on bonfires.

This was done all over Europe in order to banish sickness

from their livestock and to get rid of bad luck.

 

Blessed be all !

 

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susan@home2b.nl

 

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Updated July 27, 2011

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