Our Summer Solstice Celebration!

This week-end we went up to my Grandpa Pilgrim's Cabin for our own little Summer Solstice Celebration. It was cold and rainy the entire day so it was impossible to notice the sun's position in the sky (in order to notice that this was the longest day of sunlight of the year), or go on the nature hike I had planned, but we made the most out of it and had a great time anyway!

We read books about the Summer Solstice and learned about ways that people all over the world celebrate this special day. We learned that the Summer Solstice reminds us that nothing lasts forever and that whenever something is completed, we must let it go. Because things don't last forever, we love them all the more while they are here. We took these things that we learned and then tried to incorporate some of the traditions we read about into our own celebration.

Starting with Lugh, the Sun God. Jeff fashioned him out of some old wood scraps he had left from past projects he's done (the shed and a new work bench), which is part of the process of creating a "Wicker Man"... using bits and pieces from old projects you're ready to move on from in order to make room for more creative possibilities in your life. Each of us found something from our own lives that represented something we were ready to let go of so that we could open to new possibilities.

Drew chose to put a corner of his baby blanket near the heart of Lugh to represent letting go of his babyhood. Will chose to put a pair of underpants on him to represent his newly mastered skill of wiping all by himself. I put on a West Jordan Journal to represent that I'm moving on from the freelance part of my life for a while. Then we painted him and wrapped him in leaves and flowers that we'd collected from around the cabin.


Then we said a special blessing on him and set him a blaze! It was both sad and happy at the same time. Will said "he was my best friend!" and Drew kept asking if Jeff could make another one that we DIDN'T burn. It was cute! As he burned we said good-bye to him and sang and danced around the fire. The boys each took turns making up their own beats to lead us in as we danced.

Then, the boys acted out the battle between the Holly and the Oak King (just like we do at Winter Solstice) and this time, the Holly King prevailed as the winner. Once Lugh finally fell, we roasted s'mores and then went back into the cabin and read A Midsummer Night's Dream and books about Stonehenge. Then Will and I stayed up together until 1:00 am while Jeff & Drew went off to bed.


All in all it was a great celebration and I really think the boys learned a ton! They can't wait to make this an annual tradition!

This is the best of the Sun we saw on the Solstice. It came just before sunset and went too quickly, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

Happy Summer Solstice everyone!!