Honoring Our Home: A Midsummer Night’s Musings |
As we travel through the year, I think it is important that we honor the seasons of the earth as part of our spiritual growth, regardless of what religious or spiritual paths we have chosen. As the earth travels around the sun and experiences changes in the atmosphere, her inhabitants change and evolve as well. Honoring the earth’s seasons is part of giving back to Mother Earth, and helps us acquire a personal responsibility toward retrieving a balance between humans and the planet, especially if the honoring ritual involves action.
On June 21, at 18:06 GMT, will mark the summer solstice. This is the day that the sun reaches the Tropic of Cancer, the northernmost point in the Earth’s sky, and the Northern Hemisphere experiences the longest day and shortest night of the year. Traditionally, this day was known as Midsummer and celebrated on June 24 (with Midsummer’s Eve on June 23, the date on which Shakespeare’s play takes place). Christians adopted the solstice as St. John’s Day to honor St. John the Baptist. Mike Nichols notes in his essay on the Summer Solstice that John the Baptist was often portrayed as a rustic figure, sometimes with cloven hooves or a satyr-type body very similar to Pan. This clearly shows the influence of ancient pagan ritual of this time of year; a time when the Earth was in full bloom and life was celebrated. Many handfasting (wedding) rituals took place on this night. According to the folk calendar, June’s moon is known as the Mead Moon, or the Honey Moon, so it’s comforting to know that these celebrations live on. Speaking of the folk calendar, it’s also interesting to note that this time of year marked midsummer, not the beginning of summer as modern calendars claim. Summer began on May Day, a fertility and planting celebration and ended on August 1st—the day of the first harvest (usually wheat) and one of the two days during the year when light and dark are in perfect balance.
Honoring the old ways is something I do to remind myself of how we functioned as humans in a more organic and simpler time, when we were more aware of our connection to the universe. As our species advanced and honed its ability of survival through inventions and discoveries, there seems to have been a sacrifice. It became too easy to forget the unique cycle of universal birth and rebirth, of ebb and flow, and that we are an important part of this life force.
In modern day, we can celebrate the earth and this portion of her journey around the sun by choosing an activity near or on this day that helps the planet. For the early risers, June 21 is the perfect day of the year to greet the sunrise and give thanks in prayer, chant, meditation, yoga, dance, or another form of creative reverence. Through this type of action, bigger actions could pop into your mind. The best way to do this is to think about the activities we love that involve nature, the ones that we often have to ignore in our daily, busy schedules and do them. These small, simple things that bring us joy could be part of our duties as children of the universe.
Ever since I was a child, I have had a huge fascination with turtles. Since I live on the coast in South Florida, this is the perfect time of year to take my daughter on a turtle walk: a late night beach walk with a local nature center to spot Loggerhead turtles laying their eggs on the beach. If we are lucky and a big mama is spotted, we will help to mark the area with stakes and warning signs to protect these precious creatures. A hike to clean up a wooded path or a walk to pick up the beach would be a great early morning earth chore this time of year. Decide to be less “fuelish” for the day and take public transportation. After all, it’s the longest day of the year—and the future 21s of June are only going to get hotter if we keep driving everywhere. Or decide to grow something: plant a seedling, or start an indoor herb garden—theses are all ways to get our hands back into the earth and feel a bit more grounded.
As a religious/spiritual eclectic, I sometimes like to surround myself with other folks on these ancient holidays (or as the neo-pagan community calls “sabbats”). One day, I vow to honor this day by watching the sun rise over Stonehenge and physically witness the momentary alignment of the stones’ shadows. But before I can plan another trip to England, our local Unitarian church has a ritual around the solstice that focuses on an ancient myth, usually of the Greco-Roman variety and relates it to the solstice—maybe I will attend it. Or, perhaps I’ll write my own ritual that speaks to me about where I am on this seasonal holiday and it will help me see my path in a clearer light. Perhaps it will honor the aspects of a god or goddess, or maybe not. The point is, it doesn’t really matter how one honors the universe, but I think it’s a mandatory duty as a human to do it once in awhile.
So slap on that sunscreen, go outdoors and have a Happy Summer Solstice!
Source:
Nichols, Mike, “A Midsummer Celebration ,” University College Cork (1986), Most Recent Text Revision: Tuesday, May 3, 2005 |
Kristie Vullo |
| About the author: |
| Kristie Vullo is a South Florida native and writes poetry, short story, and creative non-fiction that focus on women’s issues and spirituality. Currently, she is co-authoring a novel with her writing partner and long time friend. She has been part of the feminist movement for sixteen years and has studied reiki and various religious paths during her physical existence on earth. Believing that we are here to make a difference, she works at a vocational charter school that recovers young adults who have dropped out of high school and wish to obtain their GEDs and a better future. She lives in Boynton Beach, Florida with her husband, young daughter, and two cats |
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