Midsummer

I find that my spirits begin to lift around 20-23 December each year, dependent on when the winter solstice actually falls and the days begin to grow longer. Similarly, my spirits acknowledge the high point of the year with elation, that day when we have the most daylight hours. The summer solstice falls around 20-22 June. Inexorably, it occurred again this year, on 20 June. Now begins the shortening of the daylight hours, gently at first, then quickening after the autumn solstice until we rush headlong into days of darkness once again. My mood ever so gradually reflects this.

The waning of daylight affects our circadian rhythms, those fascinating processes intrinsic to us that are controlled by light and dark. They let us know when to sleep, when to wake, when to be active and when to rest. Light is literally a life-bringer; dark can be a life restorer. Light and Dark have their designated places in our life cycles. So long as each is kept in balance, they can help us to retain our own centers and our wholeness. Seriously imbalanced, they can cause physiological or psychological illness, even to trauma and paranoia. There is good reason why continuing periods of bright light are used by torturers, for example. We thought that such things were of the past, certainly not used by "civilized" societies.

We were wrong.

To our ancestors, whole rites and rituals developed around these special periods of the year. My own ancestors, Celts for the most part, used to celebrate by dancing around bonfires to help increase the Sun's energy. Druids (Celtic priests) used to celebrate the day as the "wedding of heaven and earth," giving rise to the tradition of June brides because June was considered to be a lucky month.

Of course, this is mostly latter-day reconstruction of events. When there were Druid priests, there was no June as we know it. Just how did those priests know when Midsummer occurred? Or Midwinter, for that matter? There were no calendars then, at least none that we have found. Did they base their calculations on the Sun, or the Moon? After all, the Lunar Year is significantly shorter than the Solar Year. Perhaps this moveable feast varied by significantly more than a few days each year, at least until the Julian calendar imposed dates and months.


For me, Midsummer is always a time for musing, for the beginnings of a sadness that once again, another year has climbed to its midpoint. Many I knew and loved who began 2012 as HWMBO and I did have not even lasted to this point. And we are ourselves growing grayer as we begin the descent.