Merry Midsummer!

The sun crosses the Tropic of Cancer, the longest day (and shortest night) of the year begins, the Crab takes reign among horoscopes. These are ways people outside Pagan tradition may see the Summer Solstice, one of the 8 mainstream holidays of NeoPagan religions, and a traditional date for holidays throughout most of religious lore.

Midsummer goes by many names. The least accurate being "the first day of summer". I don't know about you all, but we've been sweltering and sweating for several weeks now. As Mike Nichols points out in his most fabulous essay, A MIDSUMMER CELEBRATION, June 21st (or whichever date the Solstice falls upon in any given year) is the midpoint of the season, just as the Winter Solstice is a midpoint, and Halloween, and Easter. These are the quarters of the year, no matter what name you call them.


So, what does this all mean, really? Well, if you aren't pagan, this is usually a great time of year to talk to the kids about astronomy and our solar system - how our planet revolves around the sun, how the moon revolves around the Earth, how they all rotate around their central cores ... much like a child spinning in the grass. [As an aside, I found out recently that grass is the most populated living thing on the planet.]

If you are pagan, I believe midsummer is an excellent time to really THINK about your beliefs. Summer - light - heat - and all that frolicking energy that goes with it is at it's most high. Almost euphoric, but it's bittersweet (at least for me) because it slowly dissipates from here on out, until the green leaves whither and fall and the ground is covered in snow. It's a day to be thankful for, and a time thick with magic. As thick as the leaves in the nearby woods.

We celebrated today by going to the park and spent some time in the hot, bright sun. We played (for a short while) on the equipment and then made our way down to the lake. You can't quite see them in the picture but there were large fish visible just below the surface of the water here, nibbling away, and hysterically there were two boats of fisherman off to the left and the right of us who just weren't getting any breaks. lol That old comedian, Nature, let them sweat it out.

We also heard frogs calling to each other all over the lake, and we took a short hike that turned up the richest scents of pine any of us have smelled in awhile. Unfortunately, it didn't end well. DS #1 was extremely hot and wanted to go home while DS #2 didn't want to stop under any circumstances. The boys were just too hot, I think, to make concessions for one another - even small ones - so they both wound up crying all the way back to the car. :(

DD thought everyone was being rude, and she was probably right. Even momma was in a bad mood by the time we got bac. *sigh* Now that we're at home and relaxing though, we all concede that it was still a nice trip - bug-free thanks to BullFrog, and burn-free thanks to Nutrogena SPF 70.