Growing up in New Zealand where it is summer at Christmas time, results in a mash-up of seasonal traditions. We give each other Christmas cards with snowmen and reindeer on them, and have roast hams for Christmas lunch; while preparing holiday BBQs and packing for long stretches at the beach. We are welcoming the summer solstice with the magnificent crimson flowering of the pohutukawa trees along our coastlines, while we see snow falling in the Northern Hemisphere where mulled wine and eggnog make much more sense!

As I connect more to my inner cycles and seasons, I have also connected more to the seasonal wheel of the year, and a desire to deepen into the season of the land I am living on and its unique magic.

 ‘The wheel of the year is not just a manner of changing from one season to the next. Beneath the manifestation of seasonal change, there is also a change in the energy of the earth. These energy patterns affect us all whether we are conscious of them or not. By understanding the flow and direction of that energy we can move with it, in harmony with it, as true inhabitants of our planet earth: belonging, part of, changing on all levels of our being.”

– The Earths Cycle of celebration, Glennie Kindred

Just before Christmas in New Zealand we have summer solstice which is around December 20^th-23^rd each year. The sun’s cycle waxes and wanes over the course of a year, and at summer solstice it is reaching the height of its power, with the longest day and shortest night. However it is just the threshold of summer in NZ, with this period often having big rainstorms before the long, lazy beach days we all look forward to in January and February.

In ancient times in Europe, this period was called mid-summer eve and fires were lit on hill-tops, and people stayed up all night to watch the sunrise. A celebration of honouring the light and all that is growing and being manifest, and the return of the dark, where we connect more deeply with the inner world.

This shift of energies is also reflected in Maori traditions in New Zealand. Summer solstice was the time for the sun god, Ra, to change wives. He would begin to leave his summer wife Hine-raumati (goddess of the earth and all its food) to go live with his winter wife, Hine-takurua (goddess of the sea). At this time Maori food gathering would start to shift its emphasis from land to sea. 

This is the first year I have been more conscious about thinking about celebrating the summer solstice, and how I can sink into the season to celebrate and give thanks for all that has come through this year. It has still been difficult to consider, in the midst of Christmas preparations, and finishing all of the last work tasks for the year.

You can pick and choose from these simple ideas below to create a celebration that fits for you and your loved ones whether a larger gathering of friends and family, or a small celebration with those closest to you:

• Create an altar with symbols of the season (e.g. pohutukawa and flax flowers), or symbols of the sun or fishing, or the colors of this turn of the wheel (red, white and yellow). Roses could also be used, as they are a symbol of the full blooming of the solstice and are often in full bloom at this time.
• Take turns to place on the altar a flower, stone or shell to mark each thing you have completed during the past year. You can take a few moments when you place each item to honor those achievements and give thanks (this is also a great one to do at New Years)
• Create a shrine to the sun where each can lay a posy of flowers with a wish for the coming energy change
• Light yellow candles to acknowledge this moment of greatest light
• Share food which reminds you of the sun or fire e.g. beetroot, carrots, tomatoes, yellow courgettes, capsicums; alongside summer fruits e.g. strawberries, raspberries, nectarines, mangos and pineapples
• Read stories about Maui and the slowing of the sun, or when he took Mahuika’s fire
• Light a fire and sit around it and talk about what you are thankful for achieving during the year
• Write on a piece of paper what is holding you back and symbolically throw it on the fire to burn and be released
• Decorate yourselves with garlands of flowers, or headdresses woven from flowers and grasses
• Pass around a fruit cup and toast and celebrate each other at this time
• Acknowledge love for others by offering them a red flower such as a rose or pohutukawa at the celebration or in gifts to those who have supported you through the year

Have you connected with summer solstice before? What calls to you as a way to celebrate this shift in seasonal energy? I would love to know in the comments below.

Sources:

The Earths Cycle of Celebration, Glennie Kindred

Celebrating the Southern Seasons, Juliet Batten