Photo by Ben Gruagach
Solstice is upon us! A wonderful day – one of only two that come each year: the first in June and the second coming in the month of December.
In June solstice in the northern hemisphere shows us the longest day of the year, and it shows us summer, sunshine and warmth. In the southern hemisphere it is the shortest day of the year and brings with it the promise of the sun coming back, the days starting to get longer and the promise of spring to come.
There are many ways to celebrate a holiday and it is often easy in the northern hemisphere to forget that there are a lot of folks celebrating the same day but in a different way with the sun still as a focus. In the north we are celebrating the abundance of sun, and in the south we are encouraging it to come back.
Let’s talk a little bit about some of the colors that are traditionally used with the holiday. Colors to celebrate the sun include golden yellows, bright scarlet reds, white, pink and even violet. As the longest day of the year the summer solstice is a bit more of a sexy holiday where we can wear fresh flowers in our hair and celebrate the brightness of the sun and the full life around us.
For a winter solstice, with it being the shortest day of the year, we want to use silver to honor the moon and warm golds to remind the sun to come back, and to honor the promise of longer days ahead. It is more of a holiday of looking for and soaking in some warmth from a fire and more layers in clothing, and decorations and the colors tend to lean more to the darker hues of the greens and reds.
At the cold winter solstice there is more of a focus on bringing our mind and body into harmony, gaining peace and balance. Summer solstice instead is often focused toward going, being, and outside activities and of course the time of many marriages.
Regardless of when you are getting married you can trace many of those wedding traditions back to old pagan ways, from tossing the garter to wearing rings to confirm the marriage. The flowers that are carried and then tossed are a phallic symbol – promising the girl that catches them that a man is coming and she is the next to find a mate. The garter is a circle representing a woman, and to the man that catches it a promise of a maiden that will come to him.
Both the winter and the summer solstice include the old religion practice of hanging a branch or wreath over the doorway. In winter the evergreen is there to remind us that life is ever present, ever renewable and ever green. In the summer the branches used are instead for protection and Rowan branches are often the ones we choose.
Herbs are also an important part of a solstice holiday! In the summer the herbs are abundant and we are gathering them and using them fresh; but hopefully we are also drying them for use throughout the year including at the winter solstice when we are making our soups and stews savory and reminding us of the warmth of summer. In the winter months we may be harvesting roots, but in the summer months we are able to harvest the buds, flowers, leaves and stems!
The solstice holiday reminds us well of the wheel of life and how we go from the darkness of the winter solstice, all the way to the brightness and longest day of the summer solstice and then we are headed back again to the shortening of the days leading us back to the winter.
At summer solstice we want to encourage time outside, dining outside, lounging on the porch, the patio, your yard or a local park – outside with family and friends is the key! Bike, walk, hike and swim, camp; just get outside into nature and into the sun. Go on a nature walk and learn to identify herbs, flowers, trees – you can even look for stones and shells near a water source.
Winter solstice is more about time inside, near a fire, close to our friends and family. It’s all centered more around the home and being in the home. You can even play the crystal wish game. Everyone is given a wrapped crystal, some are beautiful and some are not so much to look at; each person unwraps theirs and sees what they have been given. Then someone rings a silver bell. When the bell rings you must make a wish, and then give your crystal away. If you give the crystal away with a happy heart your wish is said to come true; if not then the wish is probably not going to come back to you!
It is funny to watch how even grown ups have been taught to hang on to what they have, and do not want to hand away a beautiful crystal or stone. We forget the truth that all of them are all perfect gifts from nature. The game can continue as long as you wish – and some families even leave a bell out for an entire gathering allowing anyone to ring the bell, and give you the opportunity to make a wish.
Regardless of where you are on June 21st, embrace the solstice energy; embrace the wheel of life and make some time to just soak it in and enjoy!