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This Sabbat marks the height of the sun in the sky and the longest day — the "mid-day" or "high noon" of the year.
It's a glorious time. The sun is pouring down, enlivening the earth. But his heat is not yet oppressive. The world is green and she is blooming with flowers. The sound of birds and bees fills the air.
Some Pagans mark the sun's zenith as also his "death" ("It's all downhill from here"). Others take it as his peak of strength, like a man in his early 20s, and though he will decline now in sheer stamina, yet he will grow in maturity and wisdom, continuing to pour his energy into the earth. That sun-energy is incorporated — incarnated — into the crops, which will be "sacrificed" to feed the people. Some of those crops are cut down at Lughnasad, August 1st (First Harvest), and so some Pagans celebrate the sun’s “death” at that time. Others wait until the Fall Equinox (Mabon — the Second Harvest), when the night begins to outrun the day.
But for now, for a little time, the sun is at his most magnificent — and munificent.
“. . .having grown to full maturity, he personifies the Father and the King, who embody the traditionally masculine qualities of strength, energy and authority. The Goddess, meanwhile, has reached a similar stage in her eternally shifting and returning cycle: She is the Full Moon of Summer in all her glory, the fertile, fulsome Mother Goddess and Queen. This royal pair are perfectly expressed in the symbolism of the Tarot as the Emperor and the Empress.” The Magickal Year, Diana Ferguson (Labyrinth Publishing [UK] Ltd., 1996).
This is the first day of summer, as far as we on the earth are concerned. That “Midsummer” name comes from the fact that the sun is in the mid-point of the bright half of the year. We on earth always lag a little behind. So the earth is now leaving the spring quarter of Air and beginning the summer quarter of Fire. She will be basking in the sun’s heat and swelling with life.
The sun, moving through the zodiac of the sky, is leaving restless, airy Gemini and moving into watery Cancer. Water and Fire are what we need to make the crops grow. And Water and Fire are what we need within — emotion, which can be unstable and morbid, but gives us momentum when warmed and steadied by the energy and determination of Fire. (Or, to look at it another way, the impetuousness of Fire tamed by the cautious cooling of Water.)
And check the where the moon is in the zodiac on Midsummer. Does it add more Water or Fire, or a little cooling Air or steadying Earth?
Diana Ferguson says, "The Oak god's special month is June, for in the old Celtic tree calendar the month that ran from June 10 to July 7 was called Duir, or Oak. . .thus, through language, oak, god and June are forever linked. For the Druids of Britain and Gaul, the oak was the sacred tree at the centre of their cult. . .The mistletoe that grew on oak trees was especially revered. Evergreen and therefore never-dying, it represented the God's very life essence, its white berries his magical seed. In a holy ceremony, the Druids cut the mistletoe from the oak (at Midsummer). . ."
June is the traditional month for weddings. At this moment the spring sowing is finished and the harvest is still in the future. Agricultural people had a little time to marry and maybe take a honeymoon trip.
St. John's Day, on June 24, celebrates the birth of John the Baptist — who was the messenger announcing the coming of Jesus — whose birth is celebrated at the other side of the year, at the time of the longest night, December 24. Diana Ferguson in The Magical Year suggests that this is a Christianized version of the Pagan "Black Winter and White Summer" or the Holly King and the Oak King, who split the rule of the year between them.
Edain McCoy in The Sabbats (Llewellyn 1998) says that St. John's Day "was instituted at the insistence of Ireland's St. Patrick to occur just before Midsummer to draw attention away from the Sabbat celebration." Another Christian occasion is Whitsunday or Whitsuntide, the fiftieth day after Easter. "Bonfires once used to be lit to acknowledge this date, but this practice has since been replaced by candle services. . ."
At any rate, the height of the sun is a time of celebration in Europe, where it used to be the custom to roll great flaming sun-wheels down hillsides.
In this country, the First of July, Canada Day, is just a short while after Midsummer and is a time to celebrate being alive, now, and in this country. Many people celebrate the glorious weather with picnics and other outdoor activities, with fireworks in the evening.
Some people stay up all night on Midsummer's Eve, partying around the fire and waiting for the sun to rise.
Other people celebrate throughout the day — rising at dawn with the sun, greeting him again at noon, and bidding him farewell again at sunset. In modern Pagan circles, drumming and dancing around the bonfire, either the night before or the night after (or both!) is a large part of the celebration.
Even if we leave the growing of the crops and tending of the animals to a relatively few farmers, still we are dependent on the outpouring of solar energy. It is fitting to remember this, that the sunlight falling on the earth now is being transformed into steak and potatoes we will eat this coming winter.
Just as the darkness of mid-winter can be depressing, the brightness of mid-summer is invigorating. It's a time to feel good about being alive. Never mind the bills, the frustrations, the misunderstandings — all of it pales in the sun's glare. Just breathe the air, drink lots of cold water, stand on the earth and be glad.