The Solstice; Celebrating Summer (June 21, 2010)

Summer Solstice, also known as Litha, Sun Blessing, Gathering Day and Vestalia is the longest day and shortest night of the year.

Litha, June 21, is the official first day of summer now a days....But in the ancient times, Summer began on Beltane (May 1st) and ended on Lammas (August 1st). So the solstice on June 21st was mid way between the two, hence it was called Midsumer.

I always wondered why the first day of summer was called Midsummer and why Summer officially began on the day when the sun's light begins to wane. It makes more sense doing it the old way.

For this Pagan family, Litha is a big deal. It is a night when the fairies are out and magick abounds. I have to admit it is one of my favorite Pagan holidays.

We try to celebrate in the old ways. For us, this means we have a bonfire. Yes I know it is as hot these days, but the old ones believed that the Litha fires possesed great power and prosperity and protection, so we had ourselves a fire.

We started celebrating at dinner, by having Solstice Salad. This is a salad we make with all kids of fresh veggies, smoked chicken brest, craisins and mandrian oranges.

After dinner, but before the fire was ritual. I sent David, Daniel and Hunter to find wild flowers, and we covered a circular table with flowers instead of an altar cloth. I filled my big cast iron cauldron with water and floated some flowers as well.

We then did a simple ritual that I adapted from one I found online. {ok here is where I confess that I have spent a miserable week suffering from sunburn from last week's boat trip and did not feel like writing one myself as I usually do}

Here is the ritual we did

(I can't remember where I found the original, but most of it is not mine, I only adapted. If someone knows the original author, I will gladly give credit as it is a beautiful ritual)

We all stand around the altar at sunset and I begin saying:

"Today is Litha, called Midsummer by the old ones
A time for celebration
Tomorrow the light will begin to fade
As the Wheel of the Year turns on and on"

Then we all face the East and I say:

"From the East comes the Wind
Cool and clear
It brings new seeds to our garden
Bees to the Pollen
And birds to the trees"

We now turn to the South and I say:

"The Sun rises high in the summer sky
And lights our way, even into the night
Today the sun casts 3 rays
The light of Fire upon the land, sea and heavens"

We now turn to face the West and I say:

"From the West the mist rolls in
Bringing rain and fog
The life giving water
Without which we would cease to be"

And finally we face the North and I say:

"Beneath our feet is the Earth
Soil dark and fertile
The womb in which life begins
And will later die, then return anew"


At this point we do what is commonly called cakes and ale. It is similar to Christian communion, except that it dosen't represent someone's body or blood

For cakes this year, I made rice crispy treats with chocolate chips. This was to represent the seeds of the dark winter (the chocolate chips) even in the bright summer (the light colored rice crispies.) And for ale, we of course, had Dewayne's home made wine.

I take the plate with 5 bites sized pieces of the cakes (the lil ones were already in bed) and I turn to the person on my left and pass him the plate and say "May you never hunger" He says "Blessed Be" takes his piece of cake and passes it to the person on the left and says "May you never hunger"

The cakes go around the circle ending with me, and then I take the chalise of wine and to say to the person on my left "May you never thirst", his responce is of course "Blessed Be" and like the cakes the wine makes its way around the circle ending with me.

*footnote, yes we use real wine, and yes the kids get a sip the same as catholic kids get a sip of wine in communtion*

We also have a fairy altar for Litha and we leave a bit of cakes and ale for the fae. Trust me you never want to piss off the fairies. They can be devious lil buggers if they feel they have been disrespected :)

After closing the circle, the formal part of ritual is over.

We proceede to the fire pit and consecrate the fire. As a throwback to our Native American ancestors we consecrate it with white sage and cedar.

Here is the prayer I recited as the fire was consecrated (again not mine)

"Today to celebrate Midsummer, we honnor the Earth. We are surrounded by tall trees. There is clear sky above us,and cool dirt beneath us and we are connected to all three. We consecrate this fire as the ancient ones did so long ago"

And then Dewayne, adds the cedar and sage to the fire. It is now a sacred and nothing but wood can be added to it.

Now for the part the kids like best. We turn on some Pagan music and sing and dance around the fire. This year we listened to a really cool Pagan artist I have recently been turned on to called Kelliana. (I recommend her music to anyone pagan or not) and we also had one of our favorite Solstice songs "Solstice Call" by Gaia Consort.*see lyrics below*

Dewayne and I continued to drink wine, and sing along as the kids danced and frolicked. The kids got to stay up late, which of course the loved.


Lyrics to Solstice Call be Gaia Consort {one of my favorite solstice songs)

Come all ye young maidens, come all ye old sods
Bring your pimply faced boyfriends and glowering Dads

Bring your brothers and sisters and grandparents too
Your lunatic Aunty and drunk Uncle Lou

There'll be bonfires from Kalaloch to Portland tonight
To celebrate summer and sing out the light

All come all come - all come along

We'll strike up a quick tune to call out the boys
One to hike up your skirts to and make lots of noise

We'll play out a waltz to encourage romance
And we'll make it a slow one so the old folks can dance

All come all come - all come along

Starch up your linens or come without clothes
For no matter what covers we'll dance in our bones

Come, timid young virgins and old libertines
For it's mid-summers eve and we've come here to dream

All come all come - all come along

Leave off your prayin' and leave off your hate
For there are none of us sinners and none of saints

We'll feast and we'll dance and we'll stay up too late
And if the Reaper comes knockin' he'll just have to wait!

All come all come - all come along

There'll be bonfires from Kalaloch to Portland tonight