Midsummer

On Midsummer Night’s Eve, your ancestors observed the longest day and shortest night of the year. The sun appeared to hang endlessly in the sky, which is how it came to be known as the summer ‘solstice’ (Latin for ‘sun stands still’. Ancient stone circles such as Stonehenge were oriented to highlight the rising of the sun on this day. Old English villages celebrated this solar festival by blessing wells, picking roses, enjoying fairs and leaving gifts in the garden to appease the wee folk (fairies, pixies and elves). Young people stayed up all night to acknowledge the Midsummer Moon, or Honey Moon, named after the mead drunk during the many wedding ceremonies that took place on this day.