General Chat

Well it must be the first day of Summer because the Sun is actually shining in Norfolk ( first time for bloomin weeks that we haven't been bathed in a North wind )..........lol

I'm off into the garden in my shorts to grub amoungst the battered flowers : ))

I was in a meeting this morning, and, just as we'd got the business of the day finished, I said to one of our number (who's usually - shall I say - less than positive):

"John, you surprise me, you had nothing negative to say today"

to which he replied

"Ah well, from noon today , we're on our way back to winter"

For some the glass is half full, but for others ....

Sue xx

Here you are. Courtesy of Wikipedia. There is lots more on that site if you google "summer solstice and mid summers eve".

European midsummer-related holidays, traditions, and celebrations are pre-Christian in origin.

They are particularly important in Northern Europe - Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden - but are found also in Ireland, parts of Britain (Cornwall especially), France, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Ukraine, other parts of Europe, and elsewhere - such as Canada, the United States, Puerto Rico, and also in the Southern Hemisphere (mostly in Brazil, Argentina and Australia), where this imported European celebration would be more appropriately called Midwinter.

Midsummer is also sometimes referred to by Neopagans and others as Litha, stemming from Bede's De temporum ratione in which he gave the Anglo-Saxon names for the months roughly corresponding to June and July as "se Ærra Liþa" and "se Æfterra Liþa" (the "early Litha month" and the "later Litha month") with an intercalary month of "Liþa" appearing after se Æfterra Liþa on leap years. The fire festival or Lith- Summer solstice is a tradition for many pagans.

Solstice celebrations still center around the day of the astronomical summer solstice. Some choose to hold the rite on the 21st of June, even when this is not the longest day of the year, and some celebrate June 24th, the day of the solstice in Roman times.

Although Midsummer is originally a pagan holiday, in Christianity it is associated with the nativity of John the Baptist, which is observed on the same day, June 24, in the Catholic, Orthodox and some Protestant churches. It is six months before Christmas because Luke 1:26 and Luke 1.36 imply that John the Baptist was born six months earlier than Jesus, although the Bible does not say at which time of the year this happened.[1]

In Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Quebec (Canada), the traditional Midsummer day, June 24, is a public holiday. So it was formerly also in Sweden and Finland, but in these countries it was, in the 1950s, moved to the Saturday between June 20 and June 26.

Lovely Hol thanks Daff..Are you cloudy there then?Not a cloud in sight here.

I was going to go to bed early... but it is just like a dull day out there... not at all like almost 10pm. Can't see the moon yet, though.....

~~~~ to Jane, hope you had a lovely holiday xxx

Love

Daff xxxxx

We have a clear sky with the moon looking amazing.I have tried taking photos of the moon and it just looks like a blob lol.It will still be light at midnight I reckon.

I am sooooo pleased you asked that question........ me too! lolol How can it be both??

Love

Daff xxxxx

If today is the Summer solstice and Mid-summers eve is the 24th June , does that mean that the Summer time lasts for about 8 days ? I'm as confessed as the weather .