Left - partygoers greet the summer solstice at Stonehenge.
Pagans have all the fun. They party when the sun comes up. They party when the sun goes down. They party when the moon comes up. They party when the moon goes down. They party when the days get shorter. They party when the days get longer.
It’s truly a testament to Christianity's sheer persistence that it won out over these folks in Europe.
Fortunately, kids still wanna have fun in, and all these pagan celebrations are just the thing for the frisky young partygoers in any era.
Summer solstice is a sad day for me. It means the days are getting shorter. It’s odd that the summer sun spends less and less time with you. Think of classic summer and you think of long hot nights which seem to go on forever. Maybe that’s part of the attraction. If the fun really starts after the sun goes down then maybe the ever shorter days are nature’s gifts to us.
Think spring and you think changing weather, rains and new flowers. Few think of long nights. But the day is as long on April 20 as it is on August 20. Yet even in Sacramento it’s rarely hot by that time. Despite the pagan calendar, to me, spring officially begins when daylight savings time arrives in early April. Spring to me means the start of long walks on pleasant evenings, a chance to reacquaint myself with neighbors and community. I even dedicate my first stroll after the clocks snap forward. It’s my own mental and spiritual spring fertility rite.
So now, after the summer solstice has come and gone, it’s BBQ in the back yard, meeting the neighbors at the community pool and taking in the sounds of the season on a quiet evening. Maybe it’s good that the days get shorter during summer. It reminds us that it doesn’t last forever.
3 comments:
What's that you say? Summer doesn't last forever?
Bite your tongue Terry! I absolutely LOATHE winter and am giving serious thought to finding a way to move to L.A. or someplace where it's a decent temperature all year around.
Some say there is no one who can truly appreciate summer half as much as someone who has winter half of the year.
Sincerely,
Doug (from ILink)
Doug,
My pals who grew up in the Northeast or upper Midwest tell me that the reason baseball is so popular there is that people are just happy to be able to do something outdoors after five months of winter.
Cubs in last place? Who cares, we're outta the basement at last!
If you're looking for the land of eternal summer, be careful where you look, though. Here in Sacramento it's been in triple digits for a week. It ain't for the faint of heart.
And it's only going to get hotter. Al Gore is right about global warming. Doug might not need to move in a few years.
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