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Summer SolsticeBy Rev.
Robin DuMolin
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"Oh what a catastrophe,
what a maiming of love when it was made a personal, merely personal feeling, taken
away from the rising and setting of the sun, and cut off from the magic connection
of the solstice and equinox. This is what is the matter with us, we are bleeding
at the roots, because we are cut off from the earth and sun and stars, and love
is a grinning mockery, because, poor blossom, we plucked it from its stem on the
tree of life, and expected it to keep on blooming in our civilized vase on the
table." --D.H. Lawrence
Ancient Civilizations and How They Treated the Seasons
The earliest evidence of symbolic expression was thirty thousand years ago from the Old Stone
Age. People began scratching tally marks in ivory and bone to track the phases of the moon. While these marks offer no specific evidence that people were also conscious of the solstices, they do show understanding for the passage of time and celestial cycles. By the time of the New Stone Age (six to eight thousand years ago) there are many signs that seasonal celebrations were at the center of community life. The farmers and seafarers whose lives depended on the weather and seasons, naturally chose to gather together regularly to direct their appeals to the energies they believed controlled the cycles of nature - birth, life, death and rebirth in which crops, animal and human all participate.
Ancient people used four primary ways of marking the solstices and equinoxes. The first involved the creation of spot lighting effects on the walls of passages, chambers or caves. People who used this technique often carved or painted symbols where they would be struck by a beam of light at sunrise or sunset on one of the solstices or equinoxes. An example where this method was used would be Newgrange, an ancient chamber located in Ireland.
A second method involved measuring the shadow of an upright pillar usually at noon. In temperate zones, the shadow is shortest at the summer solstice, and longest in midwinter. This technique was used by Babylonians, Ionian Greeks, Chinese and Peruvians.
A third method used by central American tribes required a specially prepared ceremonial structure. Only at noon on the longest day of the year would the sun directly shine through a hole or tube in the ceiling and onto a particular spot on the floor.
The fourth way to mark the solstices was to watch, from a fixed position, where on the horizon the sun set over a period of years. The use of this last method was widespread throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Stonehenge, in England, incorporated this last method. The summer solstice sunrise is marked here. In Egypt, the temple at Karnack also incorporated solstice alignments.
From China, the Book of Records describes instruction which "The Perfect Emperor Yao (2254 BC.) gave to his astronomers to ascertain the solstices and equinoxes... and thereby fix the four seasons." The summer solstice ceremony was the complement to the one in December. The winter festival was held to honor and energize the celestial male, yang forces.
In order to counterbalance the natural predominance of yin that occurs in that season, the summer festival was earthy, feminine, and yin in character so as to stimulate those forces. The summer festival took place on the altar of the Earth, which was square to evoke the terrestrial forces. While the winter solstice's sacrificial victim was burned so that smoke could rise to heaven, in summer the sacrifice was buried.
The Theme of Renewal
In Swaziland the ceremony of Incwala was the king ship ceremony, performed at the beginning of the year. It was held at the summer solstice (December). It was focused on strengthening and
demonstrating the king's energy. The full or waxing moon was believed to bring strength and health, the waning moon bringing weakness. The ceremony needed to coincide with the summer solstice and a full moon. Otherwise the king would not be strong enough for the duties of the new year. At the waning moon the king was a t his weakest and was kept separate from society. This symbolizes making separations from the old year. He received strengthening tonics and was treated as powerless. At the full moon the king would symbolically be reborn and renewed. "Pure unmarried youths" were chosen to bring back branches from a magic tree. The next day they were used to enclose the king's sanctuary. The next day the king struck a special black bull with a rod containing the elements of fertility and awakening. The same youths would catch and sacrifice the bull. The following day the king would eat green foods symbolizing the new year. There is dancing and singing. The king leaves at sunset, but then returns dressed like an animal. He hurls a specially treated gourd (symbolizing the past year) at his warriors. He is led away and the costume removed. The following day his cheeks are painted white symbolizing the full moon in which he received vitality for the new year. On the final day all things used in the ritual are burned. The king is bathed. The water falling from his body symbolizes the coming rains.
In ancient Rome there was a special ceremony at the Grove of Diana. The rule of the shrine was that any man could be its priest, and take the title of king of the Wood, if he first plucked a branch (the Golden Bough) from a sacred tree in the temple grove and killed the current priest. This was the succession to this priesthood. It was thorough death of a god that new life came to the world. Both the gods death and rituals celebrating it were usually associated with the solstices. The story of the god's birth, death and resurrection closely followed the pattern of the sun's yearly course.
Midsummer Day- Europe
The summer solstice long ago was incorporated into the Christian calendar as the feast day of St. John the Baptist. Just as John was the forerunner to Jesus, midsummer forecasts the eventual arrival of the seasonal turn of mid winter. Hundreds of years ago throughout Europe, most healers were women who used herbs. In the twelfth century, Hildegard of Bingen wrote a book of natural healing and herbal methods. It became the basis of modern western herbalism and medicine. Not long after publication, the Inquisition began and nine million women were executed for witchcraft. Witchcraft could be defined as "The knowledge and practice or the traditional ways of healing."
The summer solstice is the time of year when the feminine earth energies are at their height, this day being the optimum for gathering herbs and for healing. Some of the herbs gathered on the solstice where mugwort (the herb of St. John), chamomile, geranium, thyme, and pennyroyal. These herbs exuded a wonderful aroma when thrown on bonfires during midsummer festivals. Summer solstice bonfires were burnt throughout Europe. It was supposed to banish sickness from livestock and bad luck.
Midsummer Bride
The summer solstice is intuitively linked with fertility and sexuality by people everywhere. June is the most popular wedding month. There used to be ceremonies symbolic of marriage at midsummer. In Sardenis, solstice couples were known as sweethearts of St. John and their ritual featured pots of sprouting grain emphasizing the connection between sexuality in humans and fertility in nature. In March, the young man of the village would present himself to a girl requesting she be his sweetheart. After acceptance, a few weeks later the girl would make a pot out of cork and plant barley and wheat seeds. By midsummer the plants had matured. The couple dressed up accompanied by adults and children came to the church. They then brought the pot of grain against the door. They sat in a circle picnicking on eggs, herbs and wine. Afterward they sang and danced in circles until evening. They were actually performing a magical rite designed to make woods grow green, flowers bloom, etc. The sexual unions during these ceremonies were more an essential part of the rites. The people believed that the marriage of trees and plants could not be fertile without the real union of human beings joining in a sexual union.
Spirit of the Summer Solstice
Everything is energy, specifically Christ force energy. Since everything is from and of the Creator . The four seasons demonstrate what that energy is doing outside and inside all living things. At the Summer Solstice, this energy reaches its peak flooding the surface of the planet and then journeys back down to the center of the planet to cleanse and renew it. With all the light externally (sunlight) and internally (consciousness) available during the summer solstice, it is an optimum time to reflect and make realization.
What did you plant in the year that has now matured during this season? Prosperous thoughts? Charitable thoughts? Or do you have lots of weeds in your consciousness? i.e., complaining consciousness, selfishness? The seasons are our opportunity to check in with what we are really composed of!
Seasons Greeting!
(This article was inspired by the writing of Richard Heinberg's "Celebrate the Solstice.")
Copyright © 1995. Sterling Rose Press, Inc.
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