We’ve all heard how important it is to eat a diet high in roughage. Likewise, “roughaging” (spending time outdoors) is essential to our mental health. Even if it’s a settee on the porch, we need it, gotta have it. I aim to be the reason you pulled your bedding out the back door last night.
Mark your celestial calendars for June 21 …
the Summer Solstice!
At 12:24 am EST, the earth’s northern hemisphere will tilt toward the sun in its most dramatic fashion of the year, and that means we’ll experience both the shortest night and longest day of 2017.
This event marks the official beginning of summer here on the northern half of the globe, while the southern hemisphere starts its winter season.
This solstice has been celebrated by cultures above the equator for eons, and many of those rituals linger in modern festivities from California to Croatia (and dozens of destinations in between). Here are a few Summer Solstice traditions to tickle your travel bone.
Sânzienele at Cricău Festival in Romania
Photo by Saturnian via Wikimedia Commons
Sânziană is the Romanian name for bedstraw flowers, as well as fairies of local folklore, and the annual solstice festival in the Carpathian Mountains is held in their honor. According to Wikipedia, the most village maidens dress in white and spend all day picking flowers, of which one MUST be Galium verum (Lady’s bedstraw or Yellow bedstraw). The girls braid the flowers into crowns, which they wear upon returning to the village at nightfall. There, they meet the fellows they fancy and dance around a bonfire. The crowns are thrown onto roofs of the village houses. If a crown falls, it is said that someone will die in that house; if the crown stays on the roof, then good harvest and wealth will be bestowed upon the owners.
Stonehenge Solstice Celebration in England
Photo by Paul Townsend via Flickr
“The site itself is cloaked in mystery, and historians, archaeologists and mystics alike have long debated its baffling construction. And while theories abound, we may never know for sure whether it was an ancient burial ground, a temple of worship to ancient earth gods, a prehistoric observatory, or something we’ve yet to consider. Today, the summer solstice draws an eclectic mix of revelers to Stonehenge to witness the sun rising above the stone circle, which aligns perfectly with the summer solstice sunrise,” reports the Huffington Post.
Santa Barbara’s Summer Solstice Parade in the USA
Photo by Antandrus via Wikimedia Commons
Santa Barbara’s Summer Solstice Parade began in 1974 as a lavish birthday celebration for Michael Gonzalez, a local mime and artist. The parade has grown into the largest single-day event in Santa Barbara County, attracting massive crowds of visitors. Weeks before the parade, artists and technicians collaborate with the community to conceive ideas, build floats, make costumes, and prepare for the elaborate June show.
Solstice Fires on Kupala Night in Belarus
Photo by On Being via Flickr
To celebrate Kupala, an ancient fertility rite at the Summer Solstice, young people jump over the flames of bonfires to test their bravery and faith. The failure of a couple in love to complete the jump while holding hands is a sign of their destined separation. Girls will also float floral wreaths of flowers lit with candles on rivers, attempting to divine knowledge of their future spouses. Young men attempt to capture the wreaths in hopes of wooing the women who floated them.
Astrofest in Croatia
Photo courtesy of MaxPixel.com
Astrofest, a celestial celebration of the solstice, attracts amateur astronomers and stargazing enthusiasts to the Višnjan Observatory in Istria, Croatia. According to the Huffington Post, “The event is a unique and magical way to celebrate the solstice, combining science and spirituality, celestial skygazing, and New Age music, drum circles, and performances. Istria also boasts exceptional wine and local cuisine, making the event gastro- and astro-nomical.”
Winnie Nielsen says: Well, we will be celebrating the summer Solstice in aboard Air France. At 12:43 am, we should be already in France with our ETA in Paris about 7:30 am their time which is 6 hours ahead of Eastern daylight time. We leave the US about 5:30 pm EDT so most of our flight time will be in daylight or twilight hours. It is going to be a unique way for me to celebrate a Solstice this year.
MaryJane says: I’m excited about your trip. This one should be great. Wonderful time of year to travel.
Krista says: Wow. These are some fascinating celebrations. The one from Romaina can seem a bit harsh. I wouldn’t want the crown to fall from my roof. Hopefully they don’t dwell over it to much. We are planning to travel over to England next year around May and June time. I’ll tell the family about the Stonehenge Solstice Celebration. Maybe an event we can participate in.
Carrie Williams says: Beautiful 😊 Makes me want to lie in the grass with a good book
Winnie Nielsen says: That is our fabulous Apple Tree with a beautiful friend stopping by!
BB king says: pretty bird- what is it?
MaryJane says: That my friend is a house wren in our mascot apple tree.
BB king says: THANKS, we get a much more reddish brown house wren here, not that lightly colored. Also the Carolina wren.
oh and a few days back the yellow bird you said maybe was a warbler? Well in the bird books ( Peterson’s, Golden guide ” birds of North America”and Audubon guide,) there are pages and pages of warblers, even experts can hardly identify them all –
Mary Rauch says: I have to congratulate you on this photo. I’m aware of how difficult it is to get this shot! Great Job!
Winnie Nielsen says: Whoa, Fantastic!!! Warren loved it!
Terri Goggin says: So beautiful. You captured the wings like I have never seen before. Best hummingbird pic yet!
BB king says: Supremely difficult and lovely shot of the hummer, kudos !
Winnie Nielsen says: More beauties from the Palouse at MJF! Are these a sort of tulip?
MaryJane says: Indeed they are tulips that aren’t fully open yet. Good morning Winnie!
beautiful! For some reason, my tulips did not come up this year. Lots of leaves, but no flowers. Any idea why? I’ll have to do some research on that.
MaryJane says: I’ve never heard of that. Sorry. Let me know what you find out.
Diana Shelton says: Soft and delicate yellow tulips, Spring is here! I can almost smell the fresh spring air. They give a little sunshine to my day.
BB king says: Love those happy robins in springtime!
Winnie Nielsen says: Mmmmmm, strawberries! Always delicious.
Happy Birthday Weekend MaryJane and Happy Jubilee Weekend at MaryJanesFarm! Whoop! I hope you have lots of fun and celebrations.
Also….WooHooo the Cast iron Cookbook will be available soon. Yay! Can’t wait to get a copy and increase how I use my Mama’s cast iron skillets that I inherited. Baked with love is always best!
BB king says: Strawberries and Cream, need I say more?
Happy B’day weekend ( as per Winnie’s post above) MaryJane, hope you celebrate happily.
BB king says: Our hyacinths here in Amishland have come and gone. I treasure my heirloom Wood hyacinths from my farming Mentor, Eva. They call them ” bluebells” around here, Blue single flowers in a long stem. Very fragrant but not that awful perfumey smell of today’s flowers.
Winnie Nielsen says: Oh , I love the fragrance of Hyacinths because they confirm to me that Spring is here and all is beginning to be bright and fragrant outside.
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
5% of profits will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo and a description of a prop and its cost along with a few details as to its condition here: https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/MaryJanesCurations. It’s a playful way to be the new owner of a little bit of farm herstory.
NO CONTINUE READING LINK ON THE SOLSTICE ARTICLE, SO CANT RESPOND!
It’s fixed now. Hard for me to remember to do that because it’s a new problem. It used to function properly.
Love these young adult Canadian Geese gathering together. I assume they are all brothers and sisters and is this photo around your pond?
No this wasn’t taken at our pond. Karina and Cydnie drove around taking photos one day and came back with this one.