Melodi
Disaster Cat
Tonight is a day when Pagans and non-Pagans alike celebrate Mid-Summer's Eve, although a lot of folks will probably do most of their celebrating tomorrow since it is Saturday and the actual Solstice moment tends to vary from year to year.
In Sweden, almost everyone will be up all night dancing, drinking or taking midnight walks in broad daylight. In the far North, a lot of the celebrations that took place in Spring further South, all got rolled into one for Mid-Summer and that is still true today.
When we lived in Sweden we joined thongs of people of all ages from babies to great-grandparents taking a daylight stroll in the middle of the "night." We also visited the "Summer Pole" at the local park on Mid-Summer day and watched the traditional dancing and fiddle music.
Many of the ancient monuments on both sides of the water align with the Solstices both Summer and Winter; these are probably the earliest astronomical markers that people learned, after the 13 Moons of the lunar year.
This is a time when bonfires (or candles in my case) were lit to last the short-night and feasts were held to mark the first serious harvests of the season. Here in Ireland, hay making is on-going and just getting finished with strawberries coming into season and the first blueberries showing up in the stores.
The sun is just now finally gone at 11pm and the horizon will glow until about 1am; by 3am it will start to inch back towards light and be fully day by 4. We are further North than parts of Canada, even if our weather is milder. We've been having a heatwave for here until today, highs in the low 80's which is very rare; today it was about 65 and cool.
Tomorrow a friend is coming down from Dublin since husband is out of town and I'll make a small "feast" being sure to use some of the eggs from our chickens and perhaps making a loaf of bread that looks like the sun.
Then I think we'll probably knit and chat for a few hours since husband has to be out of town this weekend.
Here's to wishing everyone a happy and delightful mid-Summer for you and yours!
In Sweden, almost everyone will be up all night dancing, drinking or taking midnight walks in broad daylight. In the far North, a lot of the celebrations that took place in Spring further South, all got rolled into one for Mid-Summer and that is still true today.
When we lived in Sweden we joined thongs of people of all ages from babies to great-grandparents taking a daylight stroll in the middle of the "night." We also visited the "Summer Pole" at the local park on Mid-Summer day and watched the traditional dancing and fiddle music.
Many of the ancient monuments on both sides of the water align with the Solstices both Summer and Winter; these are probably the earliest astronomical markers that people learned, after the 13 Moons of the lunar year.
This is a time when bonfires (or candles in my case) were lit to last the short-night and feasts were held to mark the first serious harvests of the season. Here in Ireland, hay making is on-going and just getting finished with strawberries coming into season and the first blueberries showing up in the stores.
The sun is just now finally gone at 11pm and the horizon will glow until about 1am; by 3am it will start to inch back towards light and be fully day by 4. We are further North than parts of Canada, even if our weather is milder. We've been having a heatwave for here until today, highs in the low 80's which is very rare; today it was about 65 and cool.
Tomorrow a friend is coming down from Dublin since husband is out of town and I'll make a small "feast" being sure to use some of the eggs from our chickens and perhaps making a loaf of bread that looks like the sun.
Then I think we'll probably knit and chat for a few hours since husband has to be out of town this weekend.
Here's to wishing everyone a happy and delightful mid-Summer for you and yours!
