A British Midsummer

The summer solstice is rapidly approaching and I have been wanting to make some midsummer inspired art. To help me get my creative juices flowing, I've been reading The Stations of the Sun by Ronald Hutton. I highly recommend this book if you are interested in learning about the ritual year in Britain, particularly the seasonal festivals that were celebrated during the Middle Ages. So, why is the summer solstice referred to as "midsummer" when most modern Brits regard June as the beginning of summer? Here we see there are several ways of reckoning the seasons:

Traditionally, the seasons were reckoned according to the amount of daylight available, and for this reason the darkest months were referred to as winter whereas the lightest months were called summer. Today we measure the seasons according to the temperature, so that the hottest months are called summer and the coldest months are called winter. It may seem strange that the darkest time of year is not also the coldest time of year, but this is due to "seasonal lag". This means that the climate takes a few weeks to cool down and warm back up again after the astronomical events of the solstices and equinoxes.

Just to confuse matters, it is also possible to divide the year into 6 "ecological" seasons. These are not tightly calendar-based, but the following diagram shows roughly where they fall. These seasons will vary depending on where exactly you live, and can be observed according to when certain flowers begin to bloom and when certain trees shed their leaves. It's down to you to take note of your environment and decide for yourself how these seasons might be reckoned:

The New Year was traditionally celebrated at midwinter. Many people erroneously believe that the "Celtic New Year" was in November, but this was an end of summer festival rather than an end of year festival. Midsummer, which is also the middle of the year, has been recorded as the most important festival of the year in Northern Europe.

The first written records of midsummer merry-making in Britain and Ireland come from the 13th century. Peasants would feast, staying up all night to light fires in the streets. Smoke from the fires was intended to purge the air of disease. Doorways were decorated with green birch, long fennel, St John's Wort, Orpin, white lilies, and other flowers. Glass lamps were hung from branches and children sat around bonfires, wearing garlands of flowers. Entertainment was provided by minstrels, morris dancers, model giants, and pageants including characters such as Pluto, dragons, devils, angels and a unicorn. The maypole, also known as 'the summer birch' was decorated with wreaths and ribbons. A procession of boys carried birch branches while singing songs. Animals were blessed by passing a burning branch over and under them. Flames were carried around whole flocks and herds, three times sunwise to bless them. Youths danced round the bonfires, holding hands and treading out the embers, from sunset to sunrise.

In Ireland, as in Britain, midsummer was the most important time to light fires of protection. It is in Ireland, more than in any other part of the British Isles, that midsummer fires persist to the present day. The 19th century Lady Wilde described young men stripping half naked to leap over the flames, back and forth several times. When the flames burned lower, young women leaped the fire. When the fire had reduced to embers, married women walked through the ashes. Finally, the yearling cattle were driven through the hot ashes and their backs were singed with a lighted hazel twig. Afterwards there was singing, dancing, and fairytale telling.

Similar rituals were held across Europe at midsummer. The Roman writer Pliny advised farmers to make bonfires around their fields to protect their crops from disease. Siberian tribes customarily leaped fires to shield themselves from harm. Midsummer was the most important time to perform protection rituals because it preceded the time of year when crops would be most vulnerable to weather or blight, and livestock to diseases. It also ushered in the months in which insects multiplies most widely, causing a greater risk for humans to be infected with plague, typhus, and malaria.

The spoked wheel was one of the most widespread and popular images of the sun in prehistoric Europe. It remained the standard symbol for the sun, or the heavens, in north-west Europe for at least 850 years. Wheels were customarily built and lit as part of midsummer celebrations, often being rolled down a hill to symbolise the decline of daylight hours.

In Northern Europe, the sun was most commonly personified as a goddess. In both the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda she is described as the sister of the moon. She carries a large golden shield and is drawn across the sky in a chariot each day. In Lithuanian and Latvian mythology, she is called Saule,  goddess of life and fertility, warmth and health. The following is my depiction of the sun personified: