Summer Solstice Rituals, Celtic Mythology & the Lost Art of Play

welcome summer solstice is upon us already that brightest longest day of the year also known as mid summer because for the ancient celts and for much of ancient agricultural europe this represented the height of summer the middle of the summer months for the celtic peoples bealtana is the beginning of summer back at the beginning of may and after midsummer, the light begins to fade, so it makes sense that this would be considered the peak of summer.

Of course, the warmest months are yet to come.

The harvest has not begun, but when we hit harvest season around the beginning of August, that is actually when autumn begins.

Autumn is harvest season, and I really love the way that this kind of gentle shift of makes sense in my body for the way that the wheel turns, the way that the seasons ebb and flow.

And one of the teachings that I've been really leaning into lately is that the seasons aren't definite, right? Some years, summer comes late.

Some years, winter comes early.

And And the light is what really anchors me into the moment.

And so tuning into what's happening in the land, the growth, the decay is all really important.

And for me, the light is a really big marker.

Summer solstice has a lot of light.

The word solstice comes from the Latin solstitium, which means the sun stands still.

And so for three days around the solstice, solstices, both winter and summer, we have this sense of the sun light being in.

the same amount of sunlight for three days running, right? The sun is standing still for three days.

We don't notice that shift before it tips back either towards brightness or towards darkness.

In some of the Celtic mythology, we have this This never-ending battle between the Oak King, who is the King of Summer, and the Holly King, the King of Winter.

And depending on where you're finding your sources, and I found this to be conflicting a little bit, but I like... going with this version.

So I'm going to share this version.

Basically, they battle.

They battle either twice a year or they're locked in battle throughout the year.

And at certain points of the year, one prevails or triumphs over the other.

And so in this mythology, The oak king and the holly king battled at Yule at winter solstice in the deepest dark of night and the oak king prevailed and thus the light began to lengthen and it lengthened and it lengthened and it lengthened and then here we are arriving at summer solstice and the scales have to tip, the balance has to tip.

We cannot continue to have more and more and more light.

It's not sustainable.

It's finite.

This feels like a metaphor.