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| Solstice on Moosehead Lake |
My wife and do not chose to
celebrate holidays – commemorative days designated by someone else. We do celebrate the four seasons: Winter
Solstice, Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice and Fall Equinox. We also hold special each other’s birthdays
and our anniversary.
We are approaching Summer
Solstice. The days have gotten longer
throughout winter and spring. After the
darkness and late snows of winter, extended daylight is always welcome. However the extended daylight also brings
with it the approach of summer, and summer is our least favorite time of
year.
We are not people who enjoy
the heat – my wife is fair; and of course summer in Maine
With the start of Summer Solstice
the days will begin to shorten, and we count the time as we move toward fall,
noting each day the number of minutes of waning daylight.
Unlike Christmas and Easter
and Thanksgiving etc. the sun phases have actually regulated our life until the
recent century. Now cell phones and
I-pads and computers – technology – has removed us from dependence on, and
consciousness of the seasons. We are a
frivolous and self absorbed species and have at last separated ourselves from
nature.
Fresh crops are grown in
foreign lands and shipped to supermarkets year around. We air condition our houses in summer, heat
them in winter with climate controlled furnaces and light our homes with
electricity. Time and seasons mean
little to us: even ski resorts produce their own snow.
We are the last generation
that will remember a time when seasonal changes regulated our existence.
It is a new technological world
and I don’t belong; but in homage to nature my wife and I will continue to
celebrate the points of seasonal changes.
A blessing from Goddess
Nature
A Happy Solstice
It is a special time
the Ol’Buzzard
Our world "here" is not the whole world but I guess for us, "here" it may seem so.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the reminder of what the solstice really means to mankind!
I would not bet we are the last to be regulated by the seasons. My guess is far future generations may be more so than we are.
ReplyDeletethe older I get the less I can handle the heat..used to be if it was over 70 I'd start bitching about the heat...now if it's 50 it's warm..sigh*
ReplyDeleteJackieSue...I'm just the opposite, the older I get, the more I cannot handle the cold! I love being outside. I am a full time gardener. Our weather gets stranger and stranger here in Europe as everywhere. Weeks of non stop rain suddenly become weeks of drought and extreme heat broken by extremely violent storms. I am participating in German weather project called Blitzortung....check out their web site, it is very cool! But one of the facts I learned was that this part of France, so far this year, has the record for lightning strikes in Europe...I love summer, I am a solar powered being!
ReplyDeleteI wanted to add to my comments here....In rural France, there is an ancient, pre christian tradition of having a communal party with a huge bonfire...a pile that grows through the spring. It's called la Feu de St. Jean. I'e been invited to and attending these events for the last 20 years. Usually a great barbecue...sometimes the traditional barbecued lamb we call a mechoui....which is part of the northern african influence here. Everyone gets "bien arrosee" and as the bonfire dies down, the big guys pick up their girlfriends and try to jump over the embers! The Fete de St Jean is also the day to pick little green walnuts if you are going to make your Vin de Noix. I do. You take the unripe green walnuts, prick them with a pin and put them in a glass container with eau de vie....the high proof plum alcohol that is still legally made by stills on trailers that get hauled around from village to village in the late winter. Then, a few months later, you take the walnut infused alcohol and mix it with dry red wine and sugar and bottle it up! I have several recipes. I am an alchemist! This year, on the 21st, we have another local ritual. After a local election, we honor the newly elected village officials with a tradition called Planter le Mai....at the home of each official, we erect a tall straight tree that only has the leaves left at the very top and is decorated with flags and colored ribbons. Each official is expected to provide the villagers with a snack and refreshments...finally ending up at the house of the mayor who has to put out! So this year by the time the bonfire is lit, everyone in Badefols d'Ans should be "Bien arrosee" and already well lit, if you know what I mean. We know how to have a good time here....
DeleteThanks for friending us on our Google friend connect, nice to met you. :-)
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