Today's Holyday Art (SUMMER SOLSTICE) at Stonehenge

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Chérie Angélique de Sues

Image from Stonehenge courtesy of BBC

Summer Solstice (“sun stand still”) is a Pagan holy day that harkens the longest day of the year, when warmth spills upon the land and fruitful bounties are enjoyed by all creatures.

• Official name:  Summer Solstice, and the word “Solstice” comes from the Latin words, sol sistere – “sun stand still”.
• Significance: The summer solstice is often the time of the first harvest and hence a celebration of this bounty has been held for hundreds of years. The sun, Sol, brings life to growing crops in the field and warmth to the bones of the workers who harvested.
• Observances:  The day lasts long, so the gaiety lasts well into night, with dancing, food, mead, wine and merriment. One of the most enduring rituals of the Summer Solstice is were the Druids’ celebrate of the “wedding of Heaven and Earth”, that brought about our present day belief of a “lucky” wedding in June. When night approaches, the pagan fires will burn brightly in honor of the sun.
• Length: One day
• Date: It is conventionally on June 21st, but science says it is June 20 for 2012. The summer solstice moment occurs exactly when the axial tilt of a planet's semi-axis in a given hemisphere is most inclined towards the star that it orbits. Earth's maximum axial tilt to our star, the Sun, during a solstice is 23° 26'.
• Dress: Women will wear braided circlets of clover and flowers on their hair, wrists and ankles. Men will wear chaplets of oak leaves and flowers around their heads in honor of the Oak King.
• Interfaith Links: For Wiccans, Midsummer is one of the four “Lesser Sabbats” or “Low Holidays”. Some now call this day Litha, the day of the Lord of Light, the Oak King who sits solidly on a greenwood throne. Across the world, many pagans will throw off the hooded robes and bath skyclad under the sun while honoring Sol. Gypsies will also honor this day in similar abandon to their hard work during harvest and their respect for Gaia. So as the Chinese honor Li, the Chinese Goddess of Light.