Summer Solstice Celebrations
Summer Solstice, or Litha, marks Midsummer. It is the peak of Summer, the longest day the shortest night. A time where the Fae are celebrating with night long parties, summer fruits are bursting and the heat of the sun is radiating.
In the Southern Hemisphere Summer Solstice is honoured from the 21st - 22nd of December, whilst in the Northern Hemisphere it is celebrated 21st - 22nd of June.
It can be such a confusing time for earth based families here in Australia to be surrounded by the festivities of Christmas, snow themed decorations flooding the shops and the streets with traditions of hot cocoa and fluffy winter pjs when we are surrounded by a land brittle with drought 43 degree days sweltering under the summer sun.
It would be easy enough to celebrate a pagan Winter Solstice instead of ‘Christmas’ if you live in the Northern Hemisphere. With the cold and the dormancy of winter to hibernate and bring the family together by the fire place, whilst we in the South hibernate by the aircon…
So many Christmas traditions have been woven through threads of different ancient pagan cultures from around the world, Is Santa Odin with the Reindeers a representation of Sleipnir his eight legged horse?
My favourite story of the ‘Christmas Tree’ comes from the need to keep the nature spirits warm through the dead cold of winter so bringing the tree inside the home to keep them safe from frost but I also resonate with the evergreen tree being a symbol of hope when all the other trees have lost their leaves… In the North due to winters and here due to drought.
My Story
I used to hate this time of year… As a pagan I found it confronting to celebrate what traditionally seems like such a christian holiday. It was absurd to decorate for winter when it is clearly Summer and the consumerism that drives more and more plastic and waste into our bleeding Earth was a guilt ridden struggle to get my head around. It was easier for me to ignore it or stay quiet and go along with the expectations of the family I was surrounded by.
Once becoming a mumma it has become more important for me to live in alignment with my values and I struggled to find a balance so I wanted to share with you the way that I have woven both together for our family.
These days I love this time of year to share stories from different cultures with the kids, teaching them about how people can believe different things, combine different ideas and how traditions are merged and morphed across countries and timelines.
We can attend Carols run by our local Christian church and share with our children the stories of different religions and point out the similarities with our belief system, yes we are all blessed!
We can celebrate a secular Christmas with our extended family whilst honouring Summer Solstice as our main tradition on the 22nd and not have to opt in to the going into debt to buy loads of plastic crap no body really needs mentality…
We choose to align more with the joy of connected giving… baking for extended family, gifting time and presence with slow catch ups and it makes me feel better about our environmental impact.
We still gift to the kids, over the years we have shifted the balance from most presents on Christmas morning to now most presents on Solstice…
It started with leaving out a saucer of milk and honey in the garden for the fairies midsummer party on the 21st and coming out in the morning to find the fae had left them chocolates, then last year we went for a family picnic in the mountains and I gave out hand made herbal gifts of balms, roller bottles of special oil blends, crystals and herbs and this year we are having a gathering at home and inviting our community to come gather with us for a fun day in the pool, everyone bringing a plate to share in a meal together and my eldest (almost 7) has been preparing a Sun Meditation to lead the gathering.
Now present wise we are living with our values of keeping things simplified, they get…
One thing they WANT from their extensive list… so this is our compromise when it comes to plastic gimmicky (crap) that they lust after but never lasts long. I just keep asking which one is the one they want the MOST!
One thing they NEED this year we did more expensive craft supplies like roving wool for needle felting, Polymer clay and Air Dry clay.
Two books each, see my next blog on recommended books for Summer Solstice!
And… something to wear like new shoes, and dress up costumes.
We then add little gifts like handmade treats, movie ticket vouchers, packets of seeds, home made playdough, vouchers for one on one time together such as coffee dates with mum, gaming with dad, sleep outside, massage and healing from mum, walk just the two of us etc… so that we emphasise the importance of quality time.
When it comes to SANTA…
I have never been a fan of the big deal about the Santa lie… but I also felt up against stealing the ‘magic’ from the child… I ended up leading with Santa as a STORY…
“I’ve heard that he…”
“SO the story goes…” etc.
And ultimately letting the kids decide what they want to BELIEVE in! We don’t do the "you must behave to get presents” or the “naughty or nice list” and we don’t even write “FROM SANTA” on any labels… they have a hand made sack for presents on Christmas morning and that saves on wrapping paper too!
Honouring the season
The excitement for the season has been an important part of continuing the joy of the holidays for us. I don’t want my children to feel like their celebrations are less than what their friends or cousins are experiencing so building the anticipation has been a fun way to connect together, share in decorating and bringing forth opportunities to have conversations about different ways people celebrate and why our ways are important to us.
22 ways to weave Summer Solstice into your holiday season
Solstice Tree is a small real life tree in a pot that we decorate with hand made decorations, I leave it up to the kids to decorate it how they want and we put up coloured fairy lights around our house, it can become a bit of an altar on it’s own as the kids make decorations and they get added to the branches.
Altar, I’m a massive fan of having altar spaces all around the home. Then it feels like the whole home becomes an altar! We have a wooded fruit bowl on our dining table with oranges and other summer fruits, a vase with yellow flowers, beeswax hand rolled candles our affirmation cards and the kids crafts and nature finds are either added here or placed in the tree or up on the wall behind us.
Sunflowers, we have grown sunflowers from seeds we planted at Ostara, planted more sunflower seeds and have plans to go visit a sunflower farm!
Natural Dyes, we have been experimenting tie-dying with different natural dyes, we are very on colour theme with loving turmeric to dye old muslin sheets for altar clothes, to wrap gifts and to make the solstice bunting!
Solstice Bunting, after dying some muslin with turmeric and putting in the hot sun to dry the kids painted suns and spirals and triangles representing the element of FIRE on our bunting we have hung in our dining room.
Dried citrus slices, using a dehydrator we sliced oranges, lemons and blood oranges and threaded on a piece of wool to make garlands and tree decorations.
Repurposing old Summer Dresses by cutting up into hearts or stars, stuffing them and hanging in the tree to add a bright floral touch to our solstice tree.
Visit the beach or a body of water to refresh, enjoy the sun and feel the wet dry on your skin in the sunlight… feel the season
Nature walk at Sunset to collect gifts from nature and observe the changing world
Nature Mandala using leaves, flowers or even cut up fruit to make pretty patterns like spirals or flowers.
Pressing flowers and other treasures in either a flower press or on paper between newspapers, cardboard and some heavy books to make artwork from your treasures.
Weaving suns or spider webs using yellow wool around sticks that can be hung up arpund the home or in your solstice tree.
Painting Suns a fun activity with kids of all ages and even adults will enjoy getting creative! then put them all up on your walls as a mural of summer
Sun Sourcing Meditation, out side in the morning sun, soak up the sun while allowing the feelings of gratitude flood your heart.
Flower crowns weaving together flowers and other greenery around a wire that you or the kids and can enjoy wearing you can then hang up to dry as a beautiful home or altar decoration.
Solstice stories out under some trees check out my next blog for a list of stories I recommend for you and your little ones!
Solstice picnic or BBQ outside, at the park or down by the local river. invite your friends and enjoy the longer evenings for a slower wind down for the end of the year.
Watch the Sun rise as a family…. excitedly waking the children before dawn to creep outside to a vantage point in the dark to watch the sun come up in all its glory and make a wish on the new day
Bake Sun Bread, kneading it into the shape or a sun and allowing it to bake until golden, can add summer flavours with an orange maple glaze to make it sweet if you prefer.
Calendula cookies, making short bread cookies is a Christmas tradition that I do for our extended family and for home I like to make us calendula and lavender cookies with added dried herbs.
Make iced herbal teas using ginger, lemon and honey or licorice root or even a yummy iced chamomile tea!
Make a Sundial, this is a great fun activity to do with the kids and a great way to count down to midday!
I hope you enjoy adding some of these beautiful elements to your holiday season this Solstice! I’d love you to share your celebrations with me in our VILLAGE on facebook or tag me on instagram @Dania_oflightandearth
Love Dania!