Usually celebrated on june 21st, it sometimes is called the mid-summer festivities even tho it actually marks the beginning of summer. The days will sadly already starts to shorten on june 22nd.
Sabbats such as Litha are based around the cycle of nature through the year and the changing seasons. Some traditions associate the evolution of the seasons with the journey of The Triple Goddess and The Horned God. The divine couple reigns during the Summer Solstice, The Goddess express her feminine power through maternity and The God reflects it’s masculine energy in royalty. The shortening days on the horizon brings a touch of mystery.
Sabbats are celebrations of the seasons and opportunities to reconnect with the earth. There is 8 festivals during the year.
How we can celebrate Litha:
If you’d like to absorbs as much energy from the sun as possible set your alarm extra early to enjoy the sunrise or take a moment of your evening to sit in the grass and watch the sunset. Soak in the sun, spend time outside and thank the earth for it’s amazing beauty and abundance.
It is said that it is the best day of the year to harvest magical herbs as their powers are at their peaks, harvest respectfully and thank the plants for their offerings. Litha is also known as the best day to find a branch to turn into a magical wand, even better when the branch has freshly broke from the tree, it’s a sign of blessings from the goddess.
The summer solstice is a fire festival celebrating the sun. Light a bonfire ( or a candle ) and feast from fresh fruits and seasonal offerings. Fruits are sacred as they are the results of spring promises, bake some desserts with berries from your garden. The classic strawberry-rhubarb pie is a symbol of life and fertility as rhubarb has a phallic shape and strawberry an ovarian one.
Make lemonade, citrus are associated with the sun.
Wine and hydromel have an important place in this celebration honouring the god Dionysos.
Tie a few fennel sprigs together with a red ribbon and hang it over your door for long life and home protection.
Make sun water; fill a bottle or a jar with water and leave it in the sun to charge it with it’s powerful energy.
Leave offerings to the faes, milk, honey and berries.
Superstitions about Litha:
•What you dream about during the night of the Summer Solstice is said to become reality in the current year.
•It’s bad luck to hear a cuckoo first thing in the morning.
•Hand-picking flowers at dawn brings love.
•Seeing a white butterfly in flowers when you wake up announce prosperity for the year.
How to decorate your altar:
Litha is a celebration of love so anything related to love magic is more than welcome on your sacred space. Roses and seasonal flowers are a must, oak leaves too. Symbols of the sun of corresponding elements; citrus, chamomile, calendula, lavender, dill, yarrow, fennel, sunflower, ginger, turmeric. Amber, tiger’s eye, sunstone, peridot and ruby are also associated with the sun. Green, red, orange and yellow candles are best as they reminds us of the sun, the flowers and growth that is happening during summer.
Bibliography;
Ann Mouriel, Green witchcraft, St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1996.
Éric Pier Sperandio, La magie blanche, Québec: Les Éditions Quebecor, 1997.
Joël Farrah, La Wicca, Québec: Les Éditions Quebecor, 2004.