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Page: Profile: Event
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Event Stats
Category: Midsummer
What to Bring: Food/Drink for Feast Before the Ritual- Drums&Perc
Price/Donation: Free
Wvox Stats
Acct. Id: 186382
Event Id: 64971
Posted: Jun.28.2009
Views: 5075 |
The Moon Path Chapter of CUUPS [Witchvox Sponsor] presents...
2010 (4) Summer Solstice Sun Celebration - Litha
When: Jun. 19th. 2010
Where: Oakland Park, Florida
Summer Solstice Sun Celebration - Litha
Event Details: The Moon Path Chapter of Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPS)
will host a Summer Solstice Sun Celebration -
7:00 pm, Saturday June 19, 2010 at the
Unitarian Universalist Church of Ft. Lauderdale,
3970 NW 21st Avenue (between Commercial and Oakland Park) ,
Ft. Lauderdale, Fl 33309, 954-484-6734. Free.
Bring non-perishable food items and clothing, (or cash donation)
to be donated to the Cooperative Feeding Program of Broward County.
Bring your drums and percussion instruments,
as well as food and drink to share for the
feast before the Celebration.
The public is invited to attend the Summer Solstice Sun Celebration
which will conform to, and celebrate, the Ancient Tradition.
There will be drumming, dancing, chanting, and feasting.
Feel free to come dressed in Garb or Costume.
Anyone interested in participating is welcome.
Visit the CUUPS Moon Path Chapter website for details on pagan activities.
http://MoonPathCUUPS.org.
This year the Summer Solstice is 11:28 UT on June 21, 2010,
when the Sun enters zero degrees Cancer.
The Summer Soltice is the official first day of Summer and marks the division
of the year and the peak power of the Sun. Just as the light or waxing half
of the year began at the Winter Solstice with the longest night, the dark or
waning half of the year begins now at the Summer Solstice with the longest day.
In some parts of ancient Egypt the somber rites of the presentation of
the first sheaf of harvest wheat to the fertility God Min
took place at Summer Solstice.
The Summer Soltice name of 'Litha' is a modern usage, based on a Saxon word
that means the opposite of Yule (Winter solstice) .
The full moon in June is known as the 'Mead Moon' or the 'Honey Moon'
due to the activities of gathering the honey, which of course was used to
make honey mead.
This year the Honey Moon is 11:30 UT on June 26, 2010.
The month of June is also the favorite month in which to be married,
hence the term of going on a 'honeymoon.'
The month of June was perhaps named after the Roman Junius Brutus or
in honor of the goddess of marriage and childbirth, Juno.
Juno was the wife of Jupiter, known as Hera to the Greeks she was also
known as Saturnia to the Romans.
The ancient Egyptians had both a lunar calendar, and a solar 365 day calendar,
which was divided into three seasons of four months each. Each month consisted
of 30 days (3 weeks of 10 days per week) . At the end of the year,
five additional 'Heriu-renpet' days were added to the solar calendar
for the birth of the Goddesses/Gods. An extra day would be added as needed.
The heliacal rise of Sirius just before dawn was an extremely important event
for the Ancient Egyptians. The first visibility of the star Sirius on the
morning sky, called heliacal rising, fell close to the Inundation of the
Nile and was the beginning of the Ancient Egyptian solar year.
The first new moon after the heliacal rising was the begining of the lunar year.
3, 000 years ago the heliacal rising was in early July, currently it is around
August 1st. Each lunar month was named after an Ancient Egyptian Goddess,
God, or major festival. In a year with 13 new moons, the 13th lunar month
was added to the end of the year.
The Ancient Egyptian (Kemet) tenth lunar month from
May 14, 2010 to June 11, 2010 is Hnt-Htj/pA-n-Int/Payni and is Sacred to
Khenthy/Kentamenti/Khenti/Khenti-Amenti/Khenti-Amentiu/, the wolf/funerary
God who embodied all deceased kings buried at Abydos and assimilated with
Anibus and then Osiris. He is one of the husbands of the vulture-Goddess
Nekhbet. Day one is the Feast for Re, Horus, and Bast. Feast Of The
Uadjet Eye is day seven. During this month there was the Candle Feast
of Hathor. A sacred flame was kept burning every day as part of the
rituals dedicated to Hathor/Hwt-Hrw.
The Ancient Egyptian (Kemet) eleventh lunar month from
June 12, 2010 to July 10, 2010 is Ipt Hmt/Ipip/Epiphi (Epipy) and is Sacred to
the God Ipt/Apt-Taui, referenced in the Book of the Am-Tuat his hands and arms
are concealed. Day one are the Festivals to Hathor and Bast and is the
Day of the great feast of the southern heavens for Re. The goddesses feast
in their Houses Of Life on day two.
Ancient Egyptian eleventh solar month from May 28 to June 26 is
Shomu/Shemu III (low-water) when crops were harvested.
Ancient Egyptian twelth solar month from June 27 to July 26 is
Shomu/Shemu IV (low-water) when crops were harvested.
The ancient Hellenic lunar months would start on the new moon and a
new day would start at sunset. The new year would start on the new moon
before the Autumn Equinox. Except for Athens which used the new moon
following the Summer Solstice. I use the Autumn Equinox and the lunar
month of Boedromion for my calculations for the new year. In a year
with 13 new moons, the 13th lunar month (Poseideon II) was inserted
between the 4th (Poseideon) and 5th (Gamelion) lunar months around
December/January. A different Goddess/God was honored for the
full moon of the month.
The Ancient Hellenic ninth lunar month from May 14, 2010 to June 11, 2010
is Thargelion and the full moon is dedicated to Apollon the God of music.
The Thargelia is a harvest (First-fruit Offering) festival for Apollo
(as a guardian of crops) , it has two parts, purification and offering.
The 6th of Thargelion is the first day. This is the birthday of
Apollos's sister, Artemis and is a day of purification. Two
(preferably unattractive) men, the Pharmakoi (Scape-Goats) ,
who have been fed by the people, are led around the city, and then
driven away by fig-branches and (poisonous) squill-bulbs (used for
purification) . One Pharmakos wears a necklace of black figs, which
represent the men of the city, and the other wears one of white figs,
representing the women.
Then the second day, the 7th of Thargelion, which is Apollos's birthday,
is for a first-fruits offering to the God; the Thargelos is made by boiling
corn and other vegetables in a pot. There are separate hymn singing contests
for men's and boys' choirs; the winners receive a tripod, which they then
dedicated to the God.
The Ancient Thalysia is a festival celebrated when the corn is threshed.
In many cases the time varies from farm to farm, and coincides with the
actual completion of the harvest (May or June) . It also has two parts,
purification and offering.
The Ancient Hellenic tenth month from June 12, 2010 to July 10, 2010 is
Skirophorion and the full moon is dedicated to Hermes,
the God of of merchants, and messenger of Zeus.
During the month of Skirophorion there is the Arrephoria, a festival
in honor of Athene; Arretophoria was celebrated on the 3rd day;
On the 12th is the Skirophoria festival in honor of Athene, Poseidon,
Apollon and Demeter; and on the 14th the Bouphonia festival in honor
of Zeus Poleius and Dipolieia.
Skirophoria, or the carrying of the skira, a mixture of powdered gypsum and
white flour, is a fertility fesitval. Priests and Priestesses from the cult
of Athena, Poseidon and Helios would lead a procession to the Skiron.
A large white canopy, would be carried over their heads to shade them from
the hot summer sun. The Skiron is a sacred place to Demeter and Kore and
other controlers of the harvest because it is where the first sowing took
place. Also as part of the festival there was a relay foot race by the
men, and a fertility festival for women only. There are also some who
say that 'On this occasion, slain piglets and models of snakes and male
genitalia made out of dough were buried in chambers in the ground to
be dug up during the Thesmophoria' festival.
The Roman calendar was originally lunar.
The first days was the kalends (from which the modern word calendar is derived) ,
the first quarter was the nones, and the full moon was the ides.
A crown of flowers was hung over the hearth, and sacrifices were made to the
Lares, or household gods on the kalends, nones, ides, and all feast days.
The waning moon was the unlucky part of the month and had no name.
The days were numbered backward from the first of the next month.
The ancient Roman solar calendar consisted of 10 months in a year of 304 days.
The Romans seem to have ignored the remaining 61 days, which fell in the middle
of winter, the unmarked "Terror Time". The 10 months were named Martius,
Aprilis, Maius, Junius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November,
and December. The year began with Martius "March". Numa Pompilius,
the second king of Rome circa 700 BC, added the two months Januarius "January"
and Februarius "February". He also moved the beginning of the year from Marius
to Januarius. This made the Roman year 365 days long.
The month of Junius, the modern June, was originally the fourth month of the
Roman solar year and is dedicated to the Goddess Juno. Junius is derived from
the name of the Goddess.
For the ancient Romans the first half of the month was ill-omened,
and as little business as possible was conducted at this time.
Fors Fortuna (Fortune) was honored on the Summer Solstice.
This was a time of happy and even drunken celebration; rides on boats decorated
with flowers are especially popular. Sellers of flowers, vegetables, wool,
bronze, etc. bring their goods to market, which they sell with praises to
Fortuna, or they dedicate them to the Goddess.
Summer Solstice observences, fesitvals, and/or celebrations in June are:
Alban Hefin (Druidic) , Inti Raymi (Incan) , Feast of the Sun (Aztec) ,
Celtic New Year, St. John's Day/Festival of Saint John the Baptist (Christian) .
The Summer Soltice in ancient times was celebrated in many ways as a sacred day
with: fire, singing, dancing (around a bonfire) , feasting, all-night vigils,
torch lit processions, and setting a Firewheel ablaze.
Firewheels symbolize the sun at its highest point. They are usually rolled down
a hill into water, simulating the course of the sun.
Native Americans still perform Sun Dances at this time of year to honor the
Sky father. The Sun Dance is a ceremony of rebirth, and the spiritual renewal
of participants and their relatives as well as the renewal of the living earth
and all its components. Ancient Native Americans built stone structures which
marked the sun rise/set of the Summer Soltice.
Summer Solstice celebrates abundance, fertility, virility, the beauty and bounty
of Nature. It is a good time for empowerment, for strong magick and male rituals,
for handfastings and communing with Nature Spirits, for workings of consummation
or culmination.
The door to the Faery Realm is said to open on Summer Solstice Night, and twilight
to be the best time for faery magick. This is the time to weave green boughs and
crowns of flowers. Decorate altars with candles and flowers. Erect a Summer
Solstice Tree. Draw down the Sun. Begin taking St. John's Wort. Drink mead
or use it for offerings. Make honey cakes or cornbread with honey butter for
the feast. Fennel was hung on doors on Summer Solstice Eve in medieval times
to ward off evil spirits.
Some of the Goddesses and Gods associated with the Summer Soltice are:
Sekhmet-Bast-Ra, a form of Eqyptian Mut; the Summer Solstice Bride;
the lion-guarded Queen of the Year; Aine of Knockaine; Kupala; Mother Nature;
Aphrodite Erycina, Aphrodite of the Heather; the nymph-goddess of Summer
Solstice; Astarte/Anatha; Vesta, the Love and Death Goddess of Summer Solstice,
for whom fires were lit at Summer Solstice; Horned Gods; Oak Kings; Sun Gods;
Sky Father; Baldur; Mars; Nergal.
At this time Apollo gives way to Dionysus, Osiris to Set, Baal to Mot,
the Oak King to the Holly King, Sir Gawain to the Green Knight, Lugh to Goronwy,
and the rule of the Dark Lord supersedes that of the Lord of Light over the
wheel of the year. Balance is maintained.
Druids would gather mistletoe in the oak groves, for mistletoe without
the berries was viewed as an amulet of protection.
In Sweden the Summer Solstice mistletoe was attached to the ceiling of the
house, horse stall or manger to render the Troll powerless to inflict harm
on people or animals.
For Austrian/Bavarian festivities boys decked out in green fir branches went
from house to house with a group of young people to collect wood for the
Summer Solstice bonfire.
Torches made of bundled reeds were carried on Summer Solstice Eve by the Irish.
For the Celtic, the Summer Soltice is a fire festival. The traditions of
jumping the fire and driving cattle between two bonfires are observed the
same as for May Day. Bonfires are kindled for health, fertility, love,
sacrifice or purification. There is a long European tradition of lighting
bonfires at Summer Solstice, especially of oak wood and in high places.
Twin bonfires were common. The summer solstice celebration honors the
Lord as sun god or horned god at the peak of his powers, the King of Summer
crowned with roses. The summer solstice celebration also honors the Lady,
the Love-and-Death Goddess ripe for union. In the agricultural year
Summer Solstice is the time of full bloom, between planting and harvest.
In parts of England the Summer Solstice fires were lit in the fields to
bless the apples. Summer Solstice bonfires were jumped over to make flax
grow as high as the people could jump.
In Serbia Birch bark torches were lit on Summer Solstice Eve and carried
around the sheepfolds and cattle stalls. The people then climbed up into
the hills, where the torches were allowed to go out.
In Moselle, France a good vintage was expected if the Summer Solstice Eve
Fire Wheel was still aflame when it rolled into the river.
In some parts of Germany young people jumped over Summer Solstice bonfires
to make the flax or hemp grow tall. In Germany Latzman, the Lazy Man of
Summer Solstice Day festivities, was a conical or pyramidal wickerwork
frame covered with fir sprigs.
Moroccans and Algerians threw incense and spices on their Summer Solstice
bonfires all night, invoking divine blessings on the fruit trees.
In Italy young singles gathered around a standing stone at Summer Solstice,
the boys wearing green ears of grain and the girls wearing flax flowers,
to leave plants on the stone. The affections of a couple were believed to
last as long as the plants stayed fresh upon the dolmen. Also in Italy
wheat and barley were sown in small pots a few days before Summer Solstice.
Each pot represented a specific person. Fortune and good luck were believed
to come to those whose grain had sprouted well by Summer Solstice Day,
bad luck to those whose grain had not.
Nettles were planted or put into water on Summer Solstice Eve in Sicily.
The way they were found on Summer Solstice Day, blooming or fading, was
an omen, especially as to fortune in love.
The Basques burned vipers in wickerwork panniers on Summer Solstice Day.
The Phoenicians sang Dirges for the child Linus at Summer Solstice
during the flax harvest.
In Bohemia, fir cones gathered before sunrise on Summer Solstice Day
were believed to confer invulnerability. Wild thyme collected on
Summer Solstice Day in Bohemia was used to fumigate trees on Solstice
as a fertility charm, to make them grow well. Bohemians believed that
fern seed bloomed with fiery golden blossoms on Summer Solstice Eve,
and that the person who climbed a mountain holding it would find a vein
of gold and see the treasures of the earth shining with a bluish light.
St. John's Wort symbolizes the festival of Summer Solstice. Young women gather
(kupoliauti) St. John's Wort on Summer Solstice Day or Eve. A plant was hung
up in the house for each member of the family. It was believed that you would
soon grow sick and die if your plant failed to bloom. The remaining plants
were bundled, tied to a pole, and set up where grain would be brought at
the next harvest. Farmers prayed to the Lithuanian Goddess Kupole for a
good harvest. The bundle of herbs, called the Kupoles, represented her.
The Year is divided into Quarters by the
Winter Solstice, Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, and the Fall Equinox.
Halfway beteen the Solstice and and Equinox is the Cross Quarter.
These Quarters and Cross Quarters are called the
Wheel of the Year of the Sun.
Summer Solstice is one of the 4 Quarter Sun Celebrations in the Wheel of the Year.
It is halfway between 2 Cross Quarter Sun Celebrations,
May 1st (MayDay) and August 1st (MidSummer) .
Exactly opposite Winter Solstice on the wheel of the year.
The eight Sun Celebrations in the Wheel of the Year are:
Wiccan name: Druid Name
Samhain November 1 (Cross Quarter)
Yule December 20-22 (Winter Solstice) Alban Arthan
Imbolc Feburary 2 (Cross Quarter)
Ostara March 20-22 (Spring Equinox) Alban Eiler
Beltaine May 1 (Cross Quarter)
Litha June 20-22 (Summer Solstice) Alban Hefin
Lammas August 1 (Cross Quarter)
Mabon September 20-22 (Autumn Equinox) Alban Elfed
Event Location: 3970 NW 21st Ave in Oakland Park
Event TIME Details: 7 PM
Directions: between Commercial and Oakland Park
Phone: (954) 484-6734
Website: http://moonpathcuups.webs.com/lithasummersolstice.htm
Website II: http://MoonPathCUUPS.org
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