midsummer
The Summer Solstice
Name of Sabbat: Midsummer (also known as Litha, the Summer Solstice, Saint John’s Eve, and Saint John’s Night)
Date: On the day of the summer solstice (which occurs on or about June 21 in the Northern Hemisphere)
Pronunciation: “LITH-uh”
I had a friend ask me once why the Summer Solstice is often referred to as Midsummer. It does seem like kind of a misnomer, as the solstice is the start of summer after all. But if we look to the greater sabbats as the start dates of the four seasons, then Midsummer is comfortably right in the middle of things. In addition, several early calendars (including Icelandic and Germanic ones) acknowledged only two seasons, winter and summer, with seasons starting and ending on or near the equinoxes. When one looks at the Wheel of the Year in such a way, Midsummer truly is midsummer!
Litha has only been used as a name for the Summer Solstice since 1974 and comes to us from Aidan Kelly (see chapter 3) via the English historian Bede. Bede listed Litha as the name of a “double month” roughly equivalent to our June and July. Because the Anglo-Saxon calendar that Bede was writing about was lunar, it needed an extra month added periodically to balance things out, and what better time to add an extra month than in summer? Unlike Ostara, Litha does not refer to a goddess. According to Bede, Litha means “gentle” or “navigable,” because in both these months (June and July), “the calm breezes are gentle, and they [the Anglo-Saxons] were wont to sail upon the smooth sea.” 50
Pagan sabbats with a direct descendent in Christian practice are often the easiest to trace historically, and luckily for us, Midsummer has one of those: Saint John’s Eve (also sometimes called Saint John’s Night). Saint John’s Day (June 24) is the celebration of the birth of Saint John the Baptist, which allegedly occurred six months before the birth of Jesus. The major festivities associated with John the Baptist occurred on the night before his feast day, June 23. The term Midsummer also serves as another name for Saint John’s Eve among Christians, and the two are used interchangeably in many places without much fuss.
Though there are few truly ancient accounts of Midsummer as a pagan holiday, they do show up in the historical record about when one would expect them to: in the early twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when people started keeping more detailed records. The use of bonfires to celebrate Saint John’s Eve was first recorded in Paris in the twelfth century, and has been recorded in most every European country since then, along with a few countries in North Africa too. In many parts of Northern Europe, the holiday was seen as the most important festival of the year.51 (And in the world of New Orleans Voodoo, Saint John’s Eve has this distinction as well.)
Even today, Saint John’s Eve is marked with the building of large bonfires to celebrate the holiday. The fires are lit not just in tribute to the sun near the height of its power and influence but because of fire’s magickal properties. Fire was prized for its ability to protect people from supernatural forces, including the fey and, apparently in at least one English village, dragons.52 Even with Christianity dominant during the early modern period (1400–1700), belief in the fair folk and other supernatural entities was widespread, and people were genuinely scared of them.
Bonfires and the resulting smoke served another purpose: to protect crops and livestock. The most direct way to use a bonfire for this purpose was to build a fire (or fires) near where one’s crops were growing. It was believed that the smoke would help protect them against disease and any maleficent magick that might be directed at them. The tradition of fire and smoke being used to protect growing agricultural goods can be found in the works of the Roman writer Pliny (23–79 CE), and most certainly predates his work.53
Fire as a form of protection on Saint John’s Eve was portable too. It could be transferred to a torch, with the torch then taken to harder-to-reach areas such as livestock pens. Torches could also be run between rows of grain, the smoke cleansing and purifying the crop.54 If this seems like overkill, it’s important to remember just how important a good harvest was a thousand or even just two hundred years ago. A bad harvest could mean hunger, starvation, and even death. Nearly everything depended on a successful harvest.
Midsummer fires also served recreational purposes. They provided a place for people to congregate, feast, and drink. In other words, they were fun! Midsummer provided an excuse for a festival with all the attendant merrymaking one would expect on such an occasion. Musicians played to village streets full of people with flowers around their necks, most likely wearing whatever finery they possessed.
Midsummer bonfires weren’t made only of wood. In some parts of England, they included animal bones. A fourteenth-century English monk wrote that the Midsummer fires were done in triplicate, with one fire of only bone, one of only wood, and one of both materials. The stench from the burning bones was thought to have extra protective power.55 How a Modern Witch might go about incorporating animal bones in their Midsummer fires is lost on me, but the idea of three fires is at least interesting.
Ways to Celebrate the Summer Solstice
Midsummer might be most famous today for its association with the fey. This association is the result of people being fearful of the fey on celestially auspicious occasions such as the Summer Solstice (and Beltane, Samhain, and Yule) and because of the enduring popularity of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595/96). This play did more than just forever wed the fey to Midsummer; it changed how they were viewed in popular culture.
Before Dream, the fey were generally seen as troublesome at best, and usually as evil. (Considering how well we take care of our world, can we really blame them?) But this play transformed the fairy folk into kindly creatures. As one scholar put it, Shakespeare’s fairies “were ‘benevolent’ and ‘completely identified with buds and blossoms, dew-drops and butterflies.’ ” 56 This was a far cry from how they were seen in the centuries leading up to Shakespeare’s play.
In my own practice, I have embraced Midsummer’s association with the fey. I use it as an opportunity to honor them, bribe them, and generally make sure our relationship remains a positive one. The Midsummer coven ritual in this book includes an invitation for the fey to be a part of ritual and asks for their blessings both before and after the ritual. Even if you don’t choose to work with the fey on Midsummer, it’s probably a good idea to at least acknowledge them on the night most associated with them.
The story of the Oak King and Holly King is also popular at Midsummer. In fact, I think I see it far more often in June than I ever do in December. Much of that is probably because December is just such a busy month when it comes to magickal associations, while June is a little less so (though as this book points out, that might not actually be the case!). One of my favorite Midsummer rituals ever had the Goddess of Summer deliver the killing blow to the Oak King in order to keep the earth fertile. It was a new twist on the sacrificial god story, and the first time I’d ever witnessed such a telling of the tale.
Rites involving fire have been popular at Midsummer for hundreds if not thousands of years. Bonfires, or even just a small fire in a charcoal grill, are a great way to connect to our ancestors who celebrated long ago on Saint John’s Eve. Fire is a powerful magickal tool, and simply throwing things (and ideas) that we want out of our lives into a fire can make for effective spellwork. The smoke from Midsummer fires can be used to protect a home or covenstead from negative influences.
Rituals involving the power of the sun are especially popular at the Summer Solstice. Rituals can be built around specific solar deities or around the idea of the sun’s power giving life to the grains, fruits, and vegetables we eat. I also think there’s something extra special about the magick that happens at sunset when the longest day meets up with the shortest night.
One of the oldest traditions associated with Midsummer is that of a burning wheel. Though seldom practiced today, people have been rolling flaming wheels down hills for thousands of years. The first recorded instance of this practice dates back to the fourth century CE, and the first reference to the practice happening specifically on Midsummer dates from the sixteenth century. 57
What’s most interesting about the solar wheel is that it’s clearly a symbol of the sun, which is perfect for Midsummer. Solar wheels can be found on the solar chariots driven by gods such as Apollo and Helios and on lots of other more mundane items. Solar wheels have appeared on ancient pottery, jewelry, and coinage, and have been used by humans to represent the sun for over five thousand years. (The first recorded instance we’ve been able to find dates back to the third millennium BCE, which means they might be even older.58 )
Divination has been a part of this holiday most likely from the beginning. Writing in the twelfth century, a rather un-fun Christian monk wrote of Midsummer: “He who at the feast of St. John the Baptist does any work of sorcery to seek out the future shall do penance for fifteen days.” 59 This tradition has lasted until the present day in many places, with many divination spells centered around romantic pairings and potential spouses.
Midsummer offers a little bit of something for everyone. It’s a time for doing magick, celebrating the sun, and getting a sneak peek into the future. It also features traditions that have been a part of the human experience for thousands of years. Hail the Midsummer fires! Hail the sun!
50. Wallis, Bede: The Reckoning of Time, 53–54.
51. Hutton, Stations of the Sun, 312.
52. Ibid., 313.
53. Ibid., 320.
54. Ibid., 319.
55. Ibid., 312–313.
56. Farah Karim-Cooper, “Fairies Re-fashioned in A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” British Library, March 15, 2016, https://www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/fairies-re-fashioned-in-a-midsummer-nights-dream.
57. Hutton, Stations of the Sun, 311.
58. West, Indo-European Poetry and Myth, 201 and 210.
59. Hutton, Stations of the Sun, 312.