Guest Author - Linda J. Paul

The Summer Solstice represents the middle of summer. The days start to get shorter once again, and the wheel of the year cycle turns once again toward the coming Autumn. The Summer Solstice falls on the 21st of June and is also known as Midsummer’s Day.

However, most of the festivities associated with this Celtic fire festival take place in the early evening and well into the night. The “little folk” come out of their burrows and hiding places and join in the fun and revelry of this magical Midsummers Night. Shakespeare managed to convey the meaning of this night quite well in his famous “Midsummer’s Night Dream.”

This day held great importance to our ancestors. Many ancient stone circles and monuments that can be traced back thousands of years are aligned to sunrise of Midsummer’s Day. Stonehenge is perhaps the most famous of these monuments. The sun rises over the heel stone, framed by the giant trilithons on Midsummer morning.

During ancient times, midsummer fires were lit on the tops of the hills all over the countryside. In fact in some areas of Scotland Midsummer fires were still be lit well into the 18th century. Midsummer was a time when domestic animals were blessed with fire, usually by walking them around the fire in a clockwise direction. A common custom was for the most courageous among the group to jump high through the blazing fire. The belief was that the height reached by the most skilled jumper would be the height of the years harvest.

Like many other Pagan based holidays, Midsummer was adopted by the early British Christians as St. John’s day. Traditionally St. John’s Eve was seen as a time when the veil between the worlds was thinnest, and powerful forces were allowed to enter into our world. Vigils were often held on that night. Legends said that if you spent that night at a sacred site, you could gain the powers of a bard, or you could end up insane, dead or be taken away by the faerie folk.

St John’s Wort, Vervain, Trefoil, Rue and Roses were gathered on Midsummer’s Day. St John’s Wort was thought to contain the power of the sun, while the other flowers and herbs were traditionally placed under a pillow to bring on important dreams, especially dreams that foretold of love in the future.

Midsummer is still celebrated by many Pagans today. Like, Midwinter, this is a time of magic. It is a time that even the adults among us believe in the existence of the “wee folk”. The richness of the summer foliage surrounds us in a blanket of greenery, and the new summer blossoms fill the air with their sweetness. It is indeed a time to celebrate the full fertility of the Earth.

So on this shortest day and longest night of the year… leave an offering on your doorstep for the faerie folk.. And, don’t be surprised if they leave you a gift in return!!