Summer Solstice
First, what is a solstice?
A solstice happens twice a year, in midwinter and midsummer. These are days in which the sun is at its furthest and closest from the earth, making the winter solstice the shortest day and the longest night of the year, and summer solstice the longest day and the shortest night.
For those of us in the northern hemisphere, this is the Summer Solstice. When the summer solstice happens in the Northern Hemisphere, the North Pole is tilted about 23.4° toward the Sun. The winter solstice happens for us when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, which is located at 23.5° south of the equator and runs through Australia, Chile, southern Brazil, and northern South Africa. For those who live in the southern hemisphere, our Summer Solstice is their Winter Solstice.
The Solstices have been marked as momentous occasions by many cultures from the beginning of civilization.
Some Beliefs About the Summer Solstice:
• Some folklore tells that evil spirits would appear on the summer solstice, so to keep them away, people would wear protective garlands of herbs and flowers.
o One of these these plants was once known as ‘chase devil.’ We call it St. John’s Wort, because of its association with St. John’s Day, a Christian holy day celebrating the birth of John the Baptist. This day falls on June 24, and is associated with the solstice.
• There is a tradition that the ashes from a Midsummer bonfire can protect from misfortune.
• Another is that these ashes will increase the harvest if you spread them across the garden.
Some ways Summer Solstice has been celebrated include:
In Ancient Times:
• Some ancient Greek calendars, marked the summer solstice as the start of the New Year.
• The summer solstice also marked the one-month countdown to the opening of the Olympic games.
• Cronus, the god of agriculture, was also held around the solstice in a festival called Kronia.
• Like Saturnalia in Rome, which happens around the Winter Solstice, Kronia, turned the stations of slaves and masters around. Slaves participated as equals, and were even served by their masters.
• Around the summer solstice, ancient Romans celebrated a festival to honor Vesta, called Vestalia. During Vestalia, married women were allowed to enter the temple of Vesta and leave offerings to the goddess in exchange for blessings for their families. The rest of the year, only the Vestal Virgins, maiden priestesses who tended the city’s sacred flames, were allowed in the temple.
• The ancient Chinese associated the summer solstice with “yin,” the feminine force. Celebrations celebrated Earth, femininity, and the “yin” force.
• Pre-Christian Northern and Central European peoples, including Germanic, Celtic and Slavic groups celebrated Midsummer with bonfires. The idea was that bonfires would help increase the sun’s energy to allow for a longer growing season. This way there would be a good autumn harvest.
o Bonfires also were also believed to help banish demons and evil spirits and lead young women to their future husbands. Summer solstice was believed to be the most powerful magical time.
• For the Vikings, Midsummer was an important time. This is when they would meet at what they called a “thing.” At this time, they would discuss legal matters and resolve.
• Some ancient Native American tribes took part in solstice rituals. Some of these are still practiced today.
o Some scholars believe that Wyoming’s Bighorn Medicine Wheel, an arrangement of stones built several hundred years ago by Plains Indians that aligns with the summer solstice sunrise and sunset, was the site of that culture’s annual sun dance.
Today:
• In Northern Europe Midsummer celebrations include bonfires, girls wear flowers in their hair, and homes are decorated with flowers and greenery
• In some parts of Scandinavia, Maypoles are erected and people dance around them at Midsummer instead of May Day. Neopagans, Wiccans and New Agers around the world hold summer solstice celebrations
• Thousands of people gather at Stonehenge to commemorate the longest day of the year with a festival. Many of these are modern day Druids. This event is being streamed live through Facebook. You can join in online even without having a Facebook account.
• Many people across the US will awaken before dawn on the day of the solstice to “sing up the sun,” sit in silence as the light changes, meditate, or even do yoga. The do this in groups or alone, according to their preferences.
Pentecost
• Pentecost is celebrated on the 50th day from Easter Sunday.
• Pentecost is a celebration of the day the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles and other followers of Jesus.
• They were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks, which was a Jewish holiday, that takes place the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan, between May 15 and June 14.
• It marks the wheat harvest in the Land of Israel and, according to the Jewish Sages, it also commemorates the anniversary of the giving of the Torah by God to the Children of Israel at Mount Sinai.
• Since its date depends on the date of Easter, Pentecost is a "moveable feast".
• In Eastern Christianity, Pentecost can also refer to the entire fifty days of Easter through Pentecost Sunday.
• Pentecost is one of the Great feasts in the Eastern Orthodox Church
• In the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church it is called a Solemnity.
• Pentecost is a Festival in the Lutheran Churches.
• It is a Principal Feast for the Anglicans.
• Many Christian denominations provide a special liturgy for this holy celebration, including the United Methodist Church
• Pentecost is also called "White Sunday" or "Whitsunday" or "Whitsun", especially in the United Kingdom.
• Traditionally the next day, Whit Monday, was also a public holiday. In 1971 it was set by statute on the last Monday in May
• The Monday after Pentecost is a legal holiday in many European countries.
The meaning of Pentecost for Christians
For Christians, Pentecost is the Birthday of the Church. It is celebrated as the day the first Christians - that is, the Apostles of Jesus, others who followed Jesus, and those who began to follow them after the death of Jesus, first began to share the gospel openly with the general population in Jerusalem.
Could Summer Solstice and Pentecost be associated with one another? Things to think about and discuss:
Time of year – While the solstice happens at a very specific meteorological date and time associated with the location of the sun in relation to earth, Pentecost is based on a lunar calendar, related to Easter, which comes on the first Sunday after the full moon that happened on or right after Spring Equinox. Spring Equinox falls on another specific meteorological date and time associated with the location of the sun in relation to earth – that is, when the sun is directly over the equator. When you think about it, the day of Pentecost is dependent upon both the sun and the moon in determining it.
Holy light – The solstice is about the light of the sun illuminating the day and the lives of the people. It is a day of hope and the fruition of the gestation and rebirth of the sun at the winter solstice, the rebirth and re-emergence of flora and fauna in the spring, and re-animation of humanity after the winter. Summer solstice is the culmination of all that has been going on in the dark night of the Wheel of the Year. Pentecost is about the Son illuminating the lives of the people. It is a day of hope and the fruition of the gestation and birth of the Son at Christmas and the rebirth of humanity after the dark night of the soul. Both the summer solstice and Pentecost represent the fullness of faith in the re-emergence of Light that is to be celebrated and honored.
Glory of the Lord - In the books of the Prophets in the Hebrew Bible (aka “Old Testament), they refer to “the Glory of the Lord.” I’m working off the top of my head, so I will relate specifically to the book of Amos, which we discussed in my Hebrew Bible class with Dr. James Sanders. The way I remember what I learned is that Amos would speak to a large group of Hebrew people early in the morning. He would position himself in such a way that the sun would rise behind him, with the first rays of sunlight appearing as he brought his point to a crescendo. This sudden illumination of the people in the light of the sun was referred to as “the Glory of the Lord.” As I pondered Pentecost and the story of the Holy Spirit descending from heaven in flames of light, I thought of the time I was at the Phoenix Public Library on the day of the summer solstice. The top floor of the library is designed to have a specific effect at the exact time of solar noon on the day of the solstice. A writer for the local public radio station, KJZZ describes the effect perfectly: “On the first day of summer, at solar noon, the roof appeared to float above the library's Great Reading Room while sunlight illuminated the tops of the support columns through circular skylights. After the sun passed overhead, shadows climbed the east wall like a reverse waterfall.” It is not hard for me to imagine a similar effect occurring while the Apostles and their friends gathered in a room in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Weeks. Obviously, this does not account for the part of the story where they begin to speak in the tongues of those who came to Jerusalem from foreign countries. There are other logical explanations of this, but I won’t take away the idea that a “miracle” may have actually happened. Many cultural solstice practices include stories of magical events.
Holy Spirit vs evil spirits – Just as the light of the sun is believed to chase away the evil spirits that emerge at the solstice (as they are wont to do at any liminal time in the Wheel of the Year), so the Holy Spirit is understood to chase evil spirits from the lives of believers and cleanse them of the bad things they have done.
These are my thoughts. What do you think? Do you have other ways to think about this?
