Summer Solstice / Midsummer

a.k.a. June 21st, Aerra Litha (se Ærra Liþa), Solstitium, Adonia, St. John's Feast Day, Līgo, Midsommar, Ivan Kupala Day, Juhannus, Alban Hefin, Gŵyl Ganol yr Haf, or Sankthans

History of Summer Solstice / Midsummer celebrations:

The following is excerpted from Professor Ronald Hutton’s The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain, 1996. -- 

The feast of St John, commonly called Midsummer Day, occupied much the same relationship with the solar cycle as Christmas Day; it represented the end of a solstice, the period in which the sun ceased to move for a short period, but rose and set at the same points on the horizon at the extreme end of its range. Now, however, it was at the height of its strength, and light at its longest, and Midsummer eve represented the culmination of that period of apogee, just before the days began to shorten again as the sun moved southward. In response to the swelling of heat and light, foliage and grasses were now likewise at their fullness, before the time of fruiting approached. No wonder that it seemed to be a magical time to ancient Europeans. The late twelfth-century penitential of Bartholomew Iscanus declared that ‘He who at the feat of St John the Baptist does any work of sorcery to seek out the future shall do penance for fifteen days,’ and indeed rites of divination remained very common on this night far into the modern period. An eleventh-century Anglo-Saxon medical text, the Lacnunga, prescribed vervain gathered on Midsummer Day for liver complaints, and the later folklore collections are full of similar plant magic associated with the feast. The lighting of festive fires upon St John’s Eve is first recorded as a popular custom by Jean Belethus, a theologian at the University of Paris, in the early twelfth century; as appropriate sources before then are so sparse, there is no reason to doubt that the tradition was much older. During the nineteenth century it was found in the whole of Europe and in the north-west part of Africa as well. In the northern half of the continent the festival was generally the most important one of the whole year. It was frequently celebrated in two installments, upon the eve of the feast of St John, and upon that of the joint one of two other major saints, Peter and Paul, placed five days later upon the 28th. This system afforded an opportunity both to repeat especially effective festivities and to cancel one set in case of bad weather.

In England the earliest references to this merry-making are from the thirteenth century, effectively the time at which the sort of records likely to reveal it first occur. One is an agreement between the lord and tenants of manor of East Monckton, Wiltshire, in the reign of Henry III, by which the former promised to provide a ram for a feast by the latter if they carried fire around his cornfields on Midsummer Eve. The other is in the Liber Memorandum of the church at Barnwell in the Nene valley in Rutland, for the year 1295; it stated that the parish youth would gather at a well that evening for songs and games. The first record in Ireland is from New Ross, a town of English settlers, on St Peter’s Eve 1305, when the inhabitants ‘stayed up at night and made fire in the streets.’ Later in that century a monk of Lilleshall in Shropshire, wrote that “In the worship of St John, men waken at even, and maken three manner of fires: one is clean bones and no wood, and is called a bonfire; another is of clean wood and no bones, and is called a wakefire, for men sitteth and wake by it; the third is made of bones and wood, and is called St John’s Fire.’ The stench of burning bones, he added, was thought to drive away dragons.  [2]

 

...the word “solstice” is from the Latin word solstitium, which literally translates to “sun stands still.” [3] 

Although few primary sources are available detailing the practices of the ancient Celts, some information can be found in the chronicles kept by early Christian monks. Some of these writings, combined with surviving folklore, indicate that Midsummer was celebrated with hilltop bonfires and that it was a time to honor the space between earth and the heavens. [3] 

When (the Saxons) arrived in the British Isles, the Saxon invaders brought with them the tradition of calling the month of June Aerra Litha. They marked Midsummer with huge bonfires that celebrated the power of the sun over darkness. For people in Scandinavian countries and in the farther reaches of the Northern hemisphere, Midsummer was very important. The nearly endless hours of light in June are a happy contrast to the constant darkness found six months later in the middle of winter.  [3]

The Romans, who had a festival for anything and everything, celebrated this time as sacred to Juno, the wife of Jupiter and goddess of women and childbirth. She is also called Juno Luna and blesses women with the privilege of menstruation. The month of June was named for her, and because Juno was the patroness of marriage, her month remains an ever-popular time for weddings. This time of year was also sacred to Vesta, goddess of the hearth. The matrons of Rome entered her temple on Midsummer and made offerings of salted meal for eight days, in hopes that she would confer her blessings upon their homes. The Roman celebration of Vestalia was held each year in June, near the time of Litha, the summer solstice. This festival honored Vesta, the Roman goddess who guarded virginity. She was sacred to women, and alongside Juno was considered a protector of marriage. The Vestalia was celebrated from June 7 to June 15, and was a time in which the inner sanctum of the Vestal Temple was opened for all women to visit and make offerings to the goddess. The Vestales, or Vestal Virgins, guarded a sacred flame at the temple, and swore thirty-year vows of chastity. One of the best known Vestales was Rhea Silvia, who broke her vows and conceived twins Romulus and Remus with the god Mars. It was considered a great honor to be chosen as one of the Vestales, and was a privilege reserved for young girls of patrician birth. Today, if you'd like to honor Vesta during the time of the Vestalia, bake a cake as an offering, decorate your home with flowers, and do a ritual cleansing the week before Litha. You can do a ritual cleansing with a Litha blessing besom.  [3]

European midsummer-related holidays, traditions, and celebrations are pre-Christian in origin. They are particularly important in Northern Europe - Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania - but are found also in Ireland, parts of Britain (Cornwall especially), France, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Ukraine, other parts of Europe, and elsewhere - such as Canada, the United States, Puerto Rico, and also in the Southern Hemisphere (mostly in Brazil, Argentina and Australia), where this imported European celebration would be more appropriately called Midwinter. Midsummer is also sometimes referred to by Neopagans and others as Litha, stemming from Bede's De temporum ratione in which he gave the Anglo-Saxon names for the months roughly corresponding to June and July as "se Ærra Liþa" and "se Æfterra Liþa" (the "early Litha month" and the "later Litha month") with an intercalary month of "Liþa" appearing after se Æfterra Liþa on leap years. The fire festival or Lith- Summer solstice is a tradition for many pagans. Solstice celebrations still center around the day of the astronomical summer solstice. Some choose to hold the rite on the 21st of June, even when this is not the longest day of the year, and some celebrate June 24, the day of the solstice in Roman times. Although Midsummer is originally a pagan holiday, in Christianity it is associated with the nativity of John the Baptist, which is observed on the same day, June 24, in the Catholic, Orthodox and some Protestant churches. It is six months before Christmas because Luke 1:26 and Luke 1.36 imply that John the Baptist was born six months earlier than Jesus, although the Bible does not say at which time of the year this happened. In Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Quebec (Canada), the traditional Midsummer day, June 24, is a public holiday. So it was formerly also in Sweden and Finland, but in these countries it was, in the 1950s, moved to the Saturday between June 19 and June 26. [4] 

Summer Solstice around the world:

EGYPT: In Egypt, the Midsummer season was associated with the flooding of the Nile River delta. In South America, paper boats are filled with flowers, and then set on fire. They are then sailed down the river, carrying prayers to the gods. In some traditions of modern Paganism, you can get rid of problems by writing them on a piece of paper and dropping them into a moving body of water on Litha. [3]

ENGLAND & IRELAND: 

• In England, rural villagers built a big bonfire on Midsummer's Eve. This was called "setting the watch," and it was known that the fire would keep evil spirits out of the town. Some farmers would light a fire on their land, and people would wander about, holding torches and lanterns, from one bonfire to another. If you jumped over a bonfire -- presumably without lighting your pants on fire -- you were guaranteed to have good luck for the coming year.
• After your Litha fire has burned out and the ashes gone cold, use them to make a protective amulet. You can do this by carrying them in a small pouch, or kneading them into some soft clay and forming a talisman. In some traditions of Wicca, it is believed that the Midsummer ashes will protect you from misfortune. You can also sow the ashes from your bonfire into your garden, and your crops will be bountiful for the rest of the summer growing season.
• It is believed in parts of England that if you stay up all night on Midsummer's Eve, sitting in the middle of a stone circle, you will see the Fae. But be careful - carry a bit of rue in your pocket to keep them from harassing you, or turn your jacket inside out to confuse them. If you have to escape the Fae, follow a ley line, and it will lead you to safety.
• Residents of some areas of Ireland say that if you have something you wish to happen, you "give it to the pebble." Carry a stone in your hand as you circle the Litha bonfire, and whisper your request to the stone -- "heal my mother" or "help me be more courageous", for example. After your third turn around the fire, toss the stone into the flames. [3]

SWEDEN: Midsommar is a celebration of summer, an important holiday in Swedish culture, rivaling Christmas in its popularity and social significance in Sweden. Originating as a pagan Summer Solstice festival celebrated throughout Scandinavia and most of Europe, with the coming of Christianity Midsommar was nominally Christianized as “St. John’s Day” and celebrated on June 24th. Still, the holiday remained a rousing celebration of seasonal vitality. In the 1950s the Swedish government fixed the holiday observation on the weekend (Friday and Saturday) nearest St. John’s Day. Since then, Swedes have flocked to the countryside on this one glad Friday each year to begin their summer reveling and frolicking around the Midsommarstäng. [1]

WALES: Sunwheels were used to celebrate Midsummer in some early Pagan cultures. A wheel -- or sometimes a really big ball of straw -- was lit on fire and rolled down a hill into a river. The burned remnants were taken to the local temple and put on display. In Wales, it was believed that if the fire went out before the wheel hit the water, a good crop was guaranteed for the season.  [3]

Why celebrate Midsommar?:

• "Midsommar is a celebration of life and friendship without need of a pretext, but here are some reasons to celebrate:

• * We have a primeval need to celebrate with each other. We are not as detached and sophisticated as we pretend to be. Our ancestors partied by hopping around in circles singing songs; so can we.
• * These are the longest days of sunlight in the year. Life is short. Enjoy what is passing!
• * The natural world, when viewed with humility, is marvelous and mysterious. There is still magic in the air on Midsummer Eve." [1]

SOURCES:

1. http://burrow.wordpress.com/celebrations/midsommar/ 
2. http://contemporaneity.wordpress.com/2010/06/03/a-history-of-midsummer/

3. http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/LithaCustoms/Litha-Customs-And-Folklore.htm?nl=1

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midsummer