Summer Solstice
The young maid stole through the cottage door,
And blushed as she sought the Plant of pow'r;--
'Thou silver glow-worm, O lend me thy light,
I must gather the mystic St. John's wort tonight,
The wonderful herb, whose leaf will decide
If the coming year shall make me a bride.
In addition to the four great festivals of the Pagan Celtic
year, there are four lesser holidays as well: the two solstices,
and the two equinoxes. In folklore, these are referred to
as the four 'quarter-days' of the year, and modern Witches
call them the four 'Lesser Sabbats', or the four 'Low Holidays'.
The Summer Solstice is one of them.
Technically, a solstice is
an astronomical point and, due to the procession to the equinox,
the date may vary by a few days depending on the year. The
summer solstice occurs when the sun reaches the Tropic of
Cancer, and we experience the longest day and the shortest
night of the year. Astrologers know this as the date on which
the sun enters the sign of Cancer. This year (1988) it will
occur at 10:57 pm CDT on June 20th.
However, since most European
peasants were not accomplished at reading an ephemeris or
did not live close enough to Salisbury Plain to trot over
to Stonehenge and sight down its main avenue, they celebrated
the event on a fixed calendar date, June 24th. The slight
forward displacement of the traditional date is the result
of multitudinous calendrical changes down through the ages.
It is analogous to the winter solstice celebration, which
is astronomically on or about December 21st, but is celebrated
on the traditional date of December 25th, Yule, later adopted
by the Christians.
Again, it must be remembered
that the Celts reckoned their days from sundown to sundown,
so the June 24th festivities actually begin on the previous
sundown (our June 23rd). This was Shakespeare's Midsummer
Night's Eve. Which brings up another point: our modern calendars
are quite misguided in suggesting that 'summer begins' on
the solstice. According to the old folk calendar, summer BEGINS
on May Day and ends on Lammas (August 1st), with the summer
solstice, midway between the two, marking MID-summer. This
makes more logical sense than suggesting that summer begins
on the day when the sun's power begins to wane and the days
grow shorter.
Although our Pagan ancestors
probably preferred June 24th (and indeed most European folk
festivals today use this date), the sensibility of modern
Witches seems to prefer the actual solstice point, beginning
the celebration on its eve, or the sunset immediately preceding
the solstice point. Again, it gives modern Pagans a range
of dates to choose from with, hopefully, a weekend embedded
in it.
Just as the Pagan mid-winter
celebration of Yule was adopted by Christians as Christmas
(December 25th), so too the Pagan mid-summer celebration was
adopted by them as the feast of John the Baptist (June 24th).
Occurring 180 degrees apart on the wheel of the year, the
mid-winter celebration commemorates the birth of Jesus, while
the mid-summer celebration commemorates the birth of John,
the prophet who was born six months before Jesus in order
to announce his arrival.
Although modern Witches often
refer to the holiday by the rather generic name of Midsummer's
Eve, it is more probable that our Pagan ancestors of a few
hundred years ago actually used the Christian name for the
holiday, St. John's Eve. This is evident from the wealth of
folklore that surrounds the summer solstice (i.e. that it
is a night especially sacred to the faerie folk) but which
is inevitably ascribed to 'St. John's Eve', with no mention
of the sun's position. It could also be argued that a Coven's
claim to antiquity might be judged by what name it gives the
holidays. (Incidentally, the name 'Litha' for the holiday
is a modern usage, possibly based on a Saxon word that means
the opposite of Yule. Still, there is little historical justification
for its use in this context.) But weren't our Pagan ancestors
offended by the use of the name of a Christian saint for a
pre-Christian holiday?
Well, to begin with, their
theological sensibilities may not have been as finely honed
as our own. But secondly and more importantly, St. John himself
was often seen as a rather Pagan figure. He was, after all,
called 'the Oak King'. His connection to the wilderness (from
whence 'the voice cried out') was often emphasized by the
rustic nature of his shrines. Many statues show him as a horned
figure (as is also the case with Moses). Christian iconographers
mumble embarrassed explanations about 'horns of light', while
modern Pagans giggle and happily refer to such statues as
'Pan the Baptist'. And to clench matters, many depictions
of John actually show him with the lower torso of a satyr,
cloven hooves and all! Obviously, this kind of John the Baptist
is more properly a Jack in the Green! Also obvious is that
behind the medieval conception of St. John lies a distant,
shadowy Pagan deity, perhaps the archetypal Wild Man of the
Wood, whose face stares down at us through the foliate masks
that adorn so much church architecture. Thus medieval Pagans
may have had fewer problems adapting than we might suppose.
In England, it was the ancient
custom on St. John's Eve to light large bonfires after sundown,
which served the double purpose of providing light to the
revelers and warding off evil spirits. This was known as 'setting
the watch'. People often jumped through the fires for good
luck. In addition to these fires, the streets were lined with
lanterns, and people carried cressets (pivoted lanterns atop
poles) as they wandered from one bonfire to another. These
wandering, garland-bedecked bands were called a 'marching
watch'. Often they were attended by morris dancers, and traditional
players dressed as a unicorn, a dragon, and six hobby-horse
riders. Just as May Day was a time to renew the boundary on
one's own property, so Midsummer's Eve was a time to ward
the boundary of the city.
Customs surrounding St. John's
Eve are many and varied. At the very least, most young folk
plan to stay up throughout the whole of this shortest night.
Certain courageous souls might spend the night keeping watch
in the center of a circle of standing stones. To do so would
certainly result in either death, madness, or (hopefully)
the power of inspiration to become a great poet or bard. (This
is, by the way, identical to certain incidents in the first
branch of the 'Mabinogion'.) This was also the night when
the serpents of the island would roll themselves into a hissing,
writhing ball in order to engender the 'glain', also called
the 'serpent's egg', 'snake stone', or 'Druid's egg'. Anyone
in possession of this hard glass bubble would wield incredible
magical powers. Even Merlyn himself (accompanied by his black
dog) went in search of it, according to one ancient Welsh
story.
Snakes were not the only
creatures active on Midsummer's Eve. According to British
faery lore, this night was second only to Halloween for its
importance to the wee folk, who especially enjoyed a ridling
on such a fine summer's night. In order to see them, you had
only to gather fern seed at the stroke of midnight and rub
it onto your eyelids. But be sure to carry a little bit of
rue in your pocket, or you might well be 'pixie-led'. Or,
failing the rue, you might simply turn your jacket inside-out,
which should keep you from harm's way. But if even this fails,
you must seek out one of the 'ley lines', the old straight
tracks, and stay upon it to your destination. This will keep
you safe from any malevolent power, as will crossing a stream
of 'living' (running) water.
Other customs included decking
the house (especially over the front door) with birch, fennel,
St. John's wort, orpin, and white lilies. Five plants were
thought to have special magical properties on this night:
rue, roses, St. John's wort, vervain and trefoil. Indeed,
Midsummer's Eve in Spain is called the 'Night of the Verbena
(Vervain)'. St. John's wort was especially honored by young
maidens who picked it in the hopes of divining a future lover.
And the glow-worm came
With its silvery flame,
And sparkled and shone
Through the night of St. John,
And soon has the young maid her love-knot tied.
There are also many mythical
associations with the summer solstice, not the least of which
concerns the seasonal life of the God of the sun. Inasmuch
as I believe that I have recently discovered certain associations
and correspondences not hitherto realized, I have elected
to treat this subject in some depth in another essay. Suffice
it to say here, that I disagree with the generally accepted
idea that the Sun-God meets his death at the summer solstice.
I believe there is good reason to see the Sun-God at his zenith
-- his peak of power -- on this day, and that his death at
the hands of his rival would not occur for another quarter
of a year. Material drawn from the Welsh mythos seems to support
this thesis. In Irish mythology, Midsummer is the occasion
of the first battle between the Fir Bolgs and the Tuatha De
Danaan.
Altogether, Midsummer is
a favorite holiday for many Witches in that it is so hospitable
to outdoor celebrations. The warm summer night seems to invite
it. And if the celebrants are not in fact skyclad, then you
may be fairly certain that the long ritual robes of winter
have yielded place to short, tunic-style apparel. As with
the longer gowns, tradition dictates that one should wear
nothing underneath -- the next best thing to skyclad, to be
sure. (Incidentally, now you know the REAL answer to the old
Scottish joke, 'What is worn underneath the kilt?')
The two chief icons of the
holiday are the spear (symbol of the Sun-God in his glory)
and the summer cauldron (symbol of the Goddess in her bounty).
The precise meaning of these two symbols, which I believe
I have recently discovered, will be explored in the essay
on the death of Llew. But it is interesting to note here that
modern Witches often use these same symbols in the Midsummer
rituals. And one occasionally hears the alternative consecration
formula, 'As the spear is to the male, so the cauldron is
to the female...' With these mythic associations, it is no
wonder that Midsummer is such a joyous and magical occasion!
| Authors Details: Summer Solstice -
Mike Nichols - Unknown Web Site |
More Articles On The Wiccan Sabbats
(The Eight
Wiccan Sabbats)
(Winter Solstice - Yule)
(Imbolc)
(Ostara)
(Beltane)
(Summer
Solstice)
(Lammas)
(Mabon)
(Halloween
/ Samhain) |
