Midsummer stuffs
Happy Midsummer / Summer Solice / Litha!
I don't agree that it's the "first day of summer" because the days are getting shorter after that point and the term "midsummer" translates to basically "middle of summer". It's the holiday that says, hey, keep on working because the first harvest is coming... oh the bounties of what we planted! Life is good, the weather isn't miserably hot or overly cold (usually...) and life energy is bursting all around us (not like spring, but more a simmering feel, constant and lasting... though it obviously isn't). Basically, it's a good time to check where your work is headed so you can tweak the direction, relax a little, do an overhaul, weed out unwanted elements, or work a bit harder to push things along. It's also, traditionally, the time to collect herbs, which are more potent at this time. The bonfires date back to preChristianity; an attempt to scare away negative entities which were believed to start coming out when the sun weakens and the days grow shorter. The unseelie court gains dominion of the lands until the Winter Solstice, when the Seelie regain power. This is also when the Ivy King overcomes the Oak Lord in typical pagan type stories.
I read about some interesting Finnish, Danish, and Swedish (and general Scandinavian) celebrations of Midsummer. Not the typical and definitely not what most Pagans/Witches would be too into. (The image below is also from the Media Catalyst blog.)
Apparently in these regions, they build a huge bonfire with a straw witch on top (hmm... kinda sounds like Burning Man). The burning of the bonfire stands for different things depending on which tradition you look at. One says that the witch must be burned on midsummer to go join the devil and take all the evil with her. Another says that she is burned so that she can join "the great witch gathering" which is held on Midsummer, carrying our wishes with her in order to help them come to fruition. As with many traditions, there are the more negative and the more positive side depending on each practicing groups take on them. It's often a matter of sifting through Christian twists of older "pagan" or "heathen" practices in order to find the basis of the practice.
I admit, there is something I like about the idea of burning a little paper witch (carrying your wishes) on Midsummer in order to help them come true.
I don't agree that it's the "first day of summer" because the days are getting shorter after that point and the term "midsummer" translates to basically "middle of summer". It's the holiday that says, hey, keep on working because the first harvest is coming... oh the bounties of what we planted! Life is good, the weather isn't miserably hot or overly cold (usually...) and life energy is bursting all around us (not like spring, but more a simmering feel, constant and lasting... though it obviously isn't). Basically, it's a good time to check where your work is headed so you can tweak the direction, relax a little, do an overhaul, weed out unwanted elements, or work a bit harder to push things along. It's also, traditionally, the time to collect herbs, which are more potent at this time. The bonfires date back to preChristianity; an attempt to scare away negative entities which were believed to start coming out when the sun weakens and the days grow shorter. The unseelie court gains dominion of the lands until the Winter Solstice, when the Seelie regain power. This is also when the Ivy King overcomes the Oak Lord in typical pagan type stories.
I read about some interesting Finnish, Danish, and Swedish (and general Scandinavian) celebrations of Midsummer. Not the typical and definitely not what most Pagans/Witches would be too into. (The image below is also from the Media Catalyst blog.)
Apparently in these regions, they build a huge bonfire with a straw witch on top (hmm... kinda sounds like Burning Man). The burning of the bonfire stands for different things depending on which tradition you look at. One says that the witch must be burned on midsummer to go join the devil and take all the evil with her. Another says that she is burned so that she can join "the great witch gathering" which is held on Midsummer, carrying our wishes with her in order to help them come to fruition. As with many traditions, there are the more negative and the more positive side depending on each practicing groups take on them. It's often a matter of sifting through Christian twists of older "pagan" or "heathen" practices in order to find the basis of the practice.
I admit, there is something I like about the idea of burning a little paper witch (carrying your wishes) on Midsummer in order to help them come true.