Flowers are in full bloom. Trees are green. Birds are singing. Baby animals born in the spring are big enough to move with the herd. Summer has begun.
This is the celebration of the longest day of the year. Feasting and dancing and singing and playing are the order of the day. With all the bounty around us, this is a favorable time to perform weddings, or handfastings.
Traditional foods: fresh fruits and vegetables, pumpernickle bread, ale and mead
Ritual herbs: chamomile, cinquefoil, elder, fennel, hemp, larkspur, lavender, male fern, mugwort, pine, rose, Saint John's wort, wild thyme, wisteria, and verbena
Ritual decorations: Summer flowers, love amulets, shells, fruits
Incense: frankincese, lemon, myrrh, pine, rose, and wisteria
Stones: all green stones especially emerald and jade
Dieties: Aphrodite, Venus, Freya, Hathor, Ishtar, Astarte (love and beauty)
Candle colors:blue, green, and yellow