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Are the winter nights too long?

 

     Then find a reason to shorten it!  Summer Solstice (on or around June 22nd, also called Midsummer in Europe), is celebrated on the longest day of the year in Europe, but the longest night in South Africa (21 June.  Also talked about as “Midmass”: this European tradition is often celebrated as “Christmas in the middle of the year”

   

Good friends come together, put up the christmas tree, light a fire, give gifts, have dinner, drink sangria and wine, share secrets and create momories…

 

In this photo:  Simon Rademan celebrated life with Braam Kruger (Kitchenboy), Chante Hinds, Karen Hougaardt, Michelle Nigrini, Arina de Witt, and Annelle Schotkamp.

 

 

 

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Solstice and Equinox   (When we celebrate solstice in the south of Africa, Europe celebrates Equinox)

Long before the dawn of any of the modern Judeo-Christian-Islamic faiths, rituals followed a more simplistic path. Guided by the natural cycle of birth-life-death-and-renewal, the ancients marked their seasons by celebrating each phase of the wheel of life. Both male and female principals were honored, God and Goddess, and each was given honor as the sun and moon entwined in their cosmic dance.

The festivals that mark the change of season—winter, spring, summer and fall—have been transposed to our modern world.

Summer Solstice: on or around June 22nd, also called Midsummer, the longest day of the year.

Lammas or Lughnasadh: August 1st. The first harvest festival and the time when the seeds that have been tended with care show the fruit soon to be reaped.

Autumnal Equinox: on or around September 21st, the first day of fall.

Samhain: October 31st, also called All Hallows Eve or Halloween. This is often viewed as the New Years' Eve for those who follow the Olde Way. It marks a time of reflection not only of the past year, but of all that has gone before. The barriers between worlds are flexible this night and those who have gone before can walk among us. The harvest is done and now God and Goddess rest until spring again returns.

Winter Solstice: on or around December 22nd, the first day of winter.

Although celebrations of the solstice and equinox come to us from a far more simplistic time, they are, nevertheless, the foundations for our modern way of life and, in a deeper sense, for the rhythms of our existence. Truly, these celebrations, changed as they may be, are as timeless and eternal as the Great Wheel whose spokes they are.

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