Today is the first day of summer on the Northern Hemisphere. I must say that I am attracted to starting seasons at the first of an appropriate month rather than complicating the issue by using astronomical calendar and concepts of equinox and solstice.
I always had problems with knowing when exactly the seasons start in Europe. There are moveable dates. This year the summer in Poland started today – the 21st of June. This is the longest day of the year. In Gdansk 17 hours and 14
minutes. It is quite nice when around 10 pm there is still some natural light and shortly after 3 am is getting light again. I am glad that I will be in Sydney when in December the daytime here will shrink to 7 hours.
Midsummer has been celebrated in Slavic and Scandinavian countries as a very special day and a special occasion to dancing, drinking, flirting...
I wonder if this is not dictated by the cold climate and dark winter days. Summer by contrast is so much more special than it is in Australia. The midsummer celebrations are linked to the summer solstice and it was celebrated on the day when Poland was a pagan country. The date of celebrations was changed later for religious reasons to take place two days later at the eve of St John’s day.
The midsummer night was an occasion to find a life partner by the young people who either did not want to marry candidates chosen by elders or did not have anybody selected for them yet.
Young girls were weaving wreaths out of magical herbs and flowers placing a light in the middle. The wreaths were placed on water of rivers, brooks, creeks and sent down the stream.
Young men waited for the wreaths to come their way further down the river. Their task was to catch a wreath which they particularly liked. Not all were lucky to catch one, but those who did came back to the girls to find the one whose wreath it was. She was going to be the lucky boy’s wife.
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