Dave's Blog

Wednesday, 6/20/2007

Summer Solstice 

We think of the Summer Solstice as the beginning of summer, in 
our current astronomical calendar.  All ancient cultures 
recognized the four sun points, i.e. the solstices and the 
equinoxes.  They were easy to determine, as the Sun was usually 
the first object worshiped and the one most easily observed.  

To the British Celts, however, this was midsummer, as the air had 
warmed months earlier and the first of the annual hay harvests 
was ready.  After this day, other plants would be harvested as 
well:  herbs for medicine, berries for dyes and condiments, and 
barley and oats as supplemental foods.  With speed and 
coordination, a second crop could be sown for the fall harvest.  

The summer solstice was the longest day of the year, precession 
and atmospheric lensing notwithstanding.  Until this event the 
days grew longer; after this event the days grew shorter.  It was 
the "high noon" of the Celtic year.  

As usual, the Celts celebrated with forms of fire.  They lit 
bonfires, carried torches, and rolled wheels of fire down the 
hillsides.  If the wheel of fire made it to the river, a bumper 
crop of wine was expected.  Many of the May Day ceremonies were 
repeated, and in Scandinavia a form of Burning Man was observed.  
The Christian church incorporated this day into its calendar as 
St. John's day.  

Shakespeare commemorated the festival in his play, "A Midsummer 
Night's Dream."  This fantasy included lots of Dionysian 
debauchery in the deep woods, and featured a donkey who spent 
the night in bed with a fairy queen.  The play included three or 
four themes intertwined, with characters in town confused with 
those in the woods, and characters in life confused with those in 
dreams.  Under the cover of a masked ball, all reality was 
unraveled, only to be restored with the next day's sunrise.  

Last year I was in the Southern Hemisphere in June, so I saw 
three winter solstices in a row.  It has been a long wait, and it 
is good to finally see the beginning of summer once again.  

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