Decorated in garlands of herbs and flowers, Pagans believed that they warded off evil spirits (since Pagans believed that during the summer was when evil spirits roamed the earth.) Nowadays, the celebrations continue, and the holiday commemorates new life, light, renewal, fertility, and abundance (both within us and outside in our harvest and our surroundings.) How is the Summer Solstice celebrated around the world? The Summer Solstice was adopted early on by Pagans to glorify the Sun God. Neot’s Museum, to celebrate the beginning of planting and harvest season. People have acknowledged winter and summer solstices since the neolithic days, according to St. This year, Summer Solstice is on Sunday, June 20th, thus beginning the astronomical start of summer. 2 of 7ĭuring the Summer Solstice in the northern hemisphere, the earth’s axis is tilted most towards the sun, offering up the longest day of the year (think: more sunlight!) and the shortest night and always occurs at the end of June. Read on for a look into what the Summer Solstice is, why it’s celebrated, and some ideas that you, too, can incorporate into your own festivities. In honor of her precious and inspiring spirit, I started looking into incorporating some of her wildly wonderful ways into my own family of five. Now more than ever, I find myself leaning on the memories of those traditions she brought into my life. Years later, my beautiful mother-in-law is suffering from a debilitating and rare brain disease. With open-hearted exuberance and childlike whimsy. It was magical and memorable and taught me a new way to approach the world. In warmer months, it was maypoles, flower crowns, magic spells, and midsummer celebrations. When most families gathered together every December for Christmas and Hanukkah parties, Marguerite led the charge in having friends and family don their most festive silver and gold accessories and dance in the moonlight to honor and celebrate the winter solstice. In lieu of tennis and toddies at the club as was the general trend at the time, she spent her days gardening and meditating. As the matriarch of the family, she encouraged her brood to find balance and peace in being creative, color-outside-the-lines people, despite being rooted in a buttoned-up suburban neighborhood of San Antonio. (The name Marguerite means wild French daisy-way more her style). A woman named Margaret who, somewhere along the way, started calling herself “Marguerite” because she felt that it better described her personality. One of my favorite summer people is my mother-in-law.

Summer soulstice 2021