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The Summer Solstice
Robin DuMolin

When the North Pole turns roughly in the direction of the sun, it is summer in the northern hemisphere. The sun is then more nearly overhead at noon, and so it's rays strike the earth at an angle that is close to perpendicular. The days are long and the nights are short. On about June 21, when the North Pole is pointed sun ward, people in the northern hemisphere experience the longest day and shortest night of the year. This is the Summer Solstice. Solstice comes from the Latin words "sol stetit," which means "the sun stood still." The reason for this name is that during the time of the two solstices, the sun appears to rise and set at almost exactly the same place on the horizon.

Cycles and Traditions
At the root of the ancient solstice festivals was a profound respect for cycles. Every cycle - whether a day, a year, a human lifetime, the life of a culture - has a beginning, middle and end, and nearly every cycle is followed by another.

The time of the summer solstice is traditionally a time when charms and spells were performed for the purpose of protecting the livestock and the barns in which they live, as well as the farmhouse. The Pennsylvania Dutch have continued a lot of these traditions in a very colorful, creative way. They make the brightly colored hex signs and place them all around their farms. This is a carryover from the old countries of the Rhine valley that are their roots. Each hex sign has a specific meaning. For example, the six pointed rosette is for protection.

Solstices - Divisions of the Year
The solstices divide the year into two halves - six months of waxing sun, followed by six months of waning sun. These two half yearly sub-cycles create a pair of complimentary opposites - like day and night, light and dark, hot and cold, male and female, positive and negative. Ancient people knew that everything needs an opposite or compliment to give it meaning and vitality. It is this interplay of complimentary principles that give rise to movement and change, like the seasons.

The boundaries between these compliments are ambiguous, neither this nor that. The are considered mysterious and magical, belonging neither to this world, nor the next, and therefore serve as gateways between dimensions, realities, and states of consciousness. That is why the solstices as hinges of the seasons, were always regarded as times when two worlds were especially close. They were times of danger and opportunity, times for special alertness and aliveness.

Symbology, Surviving and Disappearing Festivals
If the winter solstice, as the symbol of death and rebirth, is an occasion of hope, the summer solstice is fulfillment colored with sadness. It is a time of abundance, warmth, and fertility. Nature is at her peak. But from this moment on until midwinter, light will retreat and darkness will increase until the promise of spring.

By the time of the New Stone Age (6,000 - 8,000 years ago) there are plenty of signs that seasonal festivals were at the heart of community life. At this time, communities became organized. Towns and classes appeared. Hor-ticulture was added to hunting and gathering now that communities were settled. While the men were hunting, women gathered, grew and used healing herbs. In most ancient cultures and even in pre-industrialized times healers were women. The use of specific herbs during the summer solstice is deeply associated with this ancient festival. It was a time not only for focusing on protection, but also purifying and healing.

But the ancient rites of summer solstice have virtually disappeared from modern European and American culture. In ancient times, it was often the summer solstice that was more prominent than the winter one. What happened? Like midwinter, the summer solstice was long ago incorporated into the Christian calendar, in this case as the feast day of St. John the Baptist. Since John was the forerunner and prophet of Jesus, so does midsummer foretell the eventual arrival of the seasonal turn to midwinter- Christmas associated with Jesus.

St. John's Day has been called by Pius Parsch in "The Churches' Year of Grace," the basic structure of the church year... "It is kind of advent... a joyous anticipation of the approaching salvation." With the industrialization of most modern societies and the quickened pace of people's lives, festivals such as midsummer have faded away. Also, a lot of cultures have gone from being matriarchal to patriarchal, so festivals like the winter solstice, regarded as a festival of sky and sun (masculine principles) have more readily survived. The summer solstice was always a festival of the earth (feminine principle).

Herbs of the Summer Solstice
The herb St. John's wørt is synonymous with midsummer. The name comes from St. John's Day, the name given to the summer solstice by the Church in an attempt to abolish pagan celebrations. St. John's wort is ruled by the sun. It's bright yellow flowers symbolize the sun. It is traditionally gathered at midsummer and hung for protection. Vervain was also gathered and used at midsummer for purification and for having the power to banish negativity.

As it is a tradition to burn nine different woods for the Beltane fires, it is also a tradition to burn nine different herbs on the midsummer fires. The herbs burned are mugwort, plaintain, watercress, cock-spur grass, mayweed, stinging nettle, apple, thyme and fennel. Nine are burned because nine represents a cycle of completion. n

• Celebrate the Solstice, by Richard Heinberg
• Ancient Ways, Pauline Campanelli