History of Summer Solstice
Summer Solstice is also known as Midsummer and falls on the longest day of the year. It is the 2nd of the 4 Roman sun festivals (Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, Autumn Equinox, and Winter Solstice). After the Summer Solstice, nights will grow slowly longer until it culminates in the Winter Solstice at Yule. This festival is about light, fire, and the sun. It’s about celebrating what you have right now, the long summer days and the warm sun.
Midsummer is the day that the Holly King defeats the Oak King and rules the darker half of the year. Together they represent balance and the constant battle between light and dark. This is also the time of year that the goddess transitions from maiden to mother, which can be seen in the growing crops and the abundance of the earth.
It’s said that the faeries roam the earth on Midsummer (which you can see in the classic Shakespeare play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.)
Traditional Celebrations
There’s very little documented history about the celebration of Midsummer in early history, at least not from primary sources. Midsummer was a day to celebrate the sun and the light and warmth it brings. Bonfires were lit to ward off spirits and faeries. Straw wheels were lit on fire and rolled down the hill for good luck with the harvest. Coins were thrown in the holy wells and trees near water were decorated with ribbons. There was feasting and dancing to celebrate the sun before it slowly faded.
Summer Solstice Today
Celebrate by enjoying the sun and making seasonal food and drinks like sun tea, honey and lavender cakes, lemon and citrus, chamomile, basil, mint, watermelon, stone fruit, strawberries, cucumber and fresh cheese. Leave a little offering from your feast out for the faeries, they can be pretty mischievous if you forget them. Decorate with seasonal flowers and colors and items from summer. Sunflowers, wildflowers, lavender, sea shells, river rocks, greenery cut from your yard and lots of candles. If it’s not too hot light a big fire, if you don’t have a place for that light candles. Toss coins in a local fountain, skip stones on a lake, make faerie houses with mushrooms and moss and bark, make natural bird feeders with orange peel cups, peanut butter and birdseed.
https://www.goddessandgreenman.co.uk/litha
Setting My Intentions
I started the morning with some chamomile tea and honey, stirring clockwise to bring all the warm feelings and protection to me. I used my new electric kettle which I love. There’s something so old about it. I picked the flat black and copper one because it looked like cast iron and reminded me of something that would hang over a fire. It seriously brings me joy each time I use it. If I can just talk about that for a minute.
Sorry – side tangent. Don’t just buy anything just to fill the need. Take a minute to find something that brings you joy. So every time you boil water, or measure an ingredient, or plant a flower the tool you are using is something that contributes to the joy of the task.
While I sipped my tea I set my intentions and lit some incense and a candle and marked the four elements with selenite, salt and dried rose petals from the rose bush my daughter-in-law got me for mother’s day (earth/north), candle (fire/south), incense (air/east), a bottle of water charged in the full moon (water/west). I added the clear quartz in the middle to amplify any energy I raised and it’s sitting in a little votive my daughter-in-law made (Foxfire Farm Pottery). For whatever reason focusing on the elements clears my head and grounds me. It makes me feel connected to the earth and to my ancestors.
Then I put on a simmer pot of lime from my tree (purification), rose petals (love, psychic awareness, protection) and lavender (healing) from my yard, and some of the chamomile (love and purification).
Cocktails to Start Things Off
Ok I’m super excited about this new book. I was listening to the podcast “Seeking Witchcraft” the February 22, 2023 episode and the host Ashley was speaking with author Julia Halina Hadas whose next book Moon, Magic, Mixology was just coming out, but she was also talking about her previous book Witchcraft Mixology. It sounded amazing so I downloaded both the ebooks. (Another side tangent – I love ebooks. You can search for words, click for definitions, highlight and bookmark and your entire library goes with you every time. I use the Barnes & Noble nook app on my iPad). This book is organized by seasons and has correspondences for everything. Fruits, herbs, astrology, tarot, crystals everything and it all connects back to the drinks. I mean aren’t cocktails just potions!? So with that, I found one in the summer section that spoke to me.
Purifying Vodka Collins
Energies – purification, longevity, peace
1 fresh sage leaf – I forgot the sage
1 ounce lavender chamomile syrup – I used lavender from my yard, to make it put 1 tablespoon dried lavender and 1 tablespoon dried chamomile in a mug or something that can withstand boiling water. Pour 1/2 cup boiling water over the flowers (yes I used my awesome tea kettle again) let it steep for 5 min. Then add 1/2 cup brown or cane sugar. Stir until the sugar is melted and store in the fridge for several hours. Then strain the solids out and store the syrup in a pretty bottle or little pitcher.
1 ounce lemon juice
1 1/2 ounces vodka – I used my favorite Effen Cucumber vodka but the recipe calls for plain vodka
2 ounces club soda
Stir everything together and serve in a pretty glass
Making the Meal
Using ingredients that are in season for where I live I made a light fresh summer dinner.
Bruschetta with homemade ricotta cheese, fresh peaches, prosciutto and green onion
Bread of choice – 1 loaf made 8 slices – freshly baked and sliced. I cheated and used a sour dough from Publix that just needed to finish baking in the oven for 10 minutes. I’m not a bread baker. Kneading and rising is not my thing.
Olive oil – drizzled on the bread and then again on the top just before serving
Ricotta cheese – made 2 cups – the easiest thing ever. Bring 1/2 gallon of whole milk to 200 on the stove top. Don’t let it boil. It should just start to get foamy on top. Add 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice. I use a bottled organic lemon juice. Remove the pan from the heat and let sit for 10 minutes. Then using a slotted spoon scoop out the curds into a mesh strainer or cheese cloth to drain more of the liquid out. You can use it immediately or refrigerate and let drain longer. Salt to taste. One really important note, you can’t use ultra pasteurized milk it won’t curdle. Most organic milks are ultra pasteurized so either get milk directly from a local farm or buy the basic store brand, just make sure it just says pasteurized not ultra pasteurized.
Fresh peaches – 2 peaches sliced thin
Prosciutto – 8 slices sliced into ribbons to make it easier to eat
Green onion – 2 stalks snipped with kitchen shears
Slice the bread, drizzle with olive oil, spread on the ricotta cheese, add the prosciutto ribbons and sliced peaches, top with green onion. Drizzle with more olive oil and fresh cracked pepper. Makes 8 bruschetta
This is what the milk will look like and the curds.
Fresh, raw summer corn with crumbled cheese, avocado, green onion, and grated red onion
Corn on the cob – 8 ears raw, kernels removed
Queso fresco cheese – 1/2 wheel, crumbled
Avocado – diced
Green onion – 2 stalks snipped with kitchen shears
Red onion – 1/2 a medium onion grated on a cheese grater
Dressing – 1 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup creama, 1 lime zest and juice, honey, onion powder, garlic powder, sweet paprika to taste
Mix everything together and chill until ready to serve
Salad with chicken, peaches, watermelon, cucumber, feta cheese, and sunflower seeds
Romain lettuce – 2 hearts, chopped
Rotisserie chicken – remove the meat, leave the skin and bones
Peaches – 2 diced
Watermelon – 2 cups, cubed
Cucumber – 1/2 cucumber chopped -I like the English cucumbers their skins are thinner and less bitter and they have less water
Feta cheese – 1/2 block crumbled
Sunflower seeds – shelled, roasted and salted
Starting with the romaine on a platter, layer the chicken, peaches, watermelon, cucumber, feta and sunflower seeds. Dress with a light dressing (I used Panera’s Fiji Apple) or oil and vinegar.
Honey lemon poppy seed cake with fresh whipped cream and strawberries
Trader Joe’s meyer lemon cake mix – prepared according to the package but replace the water with fresh lemon juice and add poppy seeds. I added honey to the glaze and used lemon juice instead of milk.
Strawberries – I usually slice them and toss them with a little brown sugar if they aren’t sweet enough and a pinch of salt
Fresh whipped cream – 1 pint heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar to taste (maybe 1/2 – 1 cup), 1 tablespoon vanilla. Whipped until soft peaks form
Thanks PP for the flower crowns.
DAGNY | the g is silent but I am not 