Summer Solstice Fire
by Evelyn C. Rysdyk
Our Sun. Photo credit: NASA
When I was a little girl, I was fortunate to have been surrounded by older adults who loved to tell stories. I can remember one June day when my Norwegian Grandmother told me about the huge bonfires that were lit on the Summer Solstice when she was young. She told me that as a little girl, she was especially fond of these fires as her birthday fell in the Summertime.
Our ancestors celebrated a time they called Midsummer, which actually fell on or near the Summer Solstice. Solstices occur twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is oriented directly towards or away from the Sun, causing it to appear to reach its northernmost and southernmost extremes. The name is derived from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still), because at the solstices, the Sun's apparent movement north or south comes to a standstill. While Winter Solstice brings us the longest night, Summer Solstice is the time of year when the Northern Hemisphere has it's longest day.
Fires have a long history in Midsummer (solstice) celebrations. All across northern Europe, the ancestors set great bonfires to celebrate the heat and generative properties of the Sun and to celebrate the growing season in Nature. It was thought that the fires supported the Sun's strength and held some of its magic. Cattle would be driven between two fires to protect them from harm and people would dance in circles 'round the fire--mimicing the great circles of the Natural world. The celebrations had many similarities to Beltane (May 1st) rituals in that they were about encouraging and honoring fertility in all its forms.
This is a Midsummer bonfire from Finland. Photo credit: Janne Karaste
According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (published by Oxford University), our English language word bonfire comes to us from the Middle English. An entry from the year 1483 suggests that it derived from banefire or bonefire referring to open air fires in which bones were burned. This most likely reflects the custom of offering a sacrifice to support Nature's continuance. Such fires are typical around the world and may have their roots in our hunter/gatherer past since shamanic cultures still use fire as a "transportation device" to carry prayers and offering into the spirit world.
With the rise of agriculture, peoples' dependence on the success of crops would have certainly stimulated pleas to the Divine to assure their health and richness. Indeed, these sacrificial fires to "please the gods" extended into the later monotheistic traditions and are mentioned in the biblical, Old Testament.
Besides bone-bearing sacrifices, other things were burned to support continued bounty. These included milk--a practice that is still followed in Central Asian shamanic traditions, fruit, cakes and even trees. In his book, The Celtic and Scandinavian Religions, J.A. McCullogh, writes that " in primitive belief, trees were the abode of tree-spirits, which influenced vegetation." A specially chosen tree would have been "borne through fields and by dwellings, which benefited from this action. The tree was then burned." Beltane maypole celebrations and the tradition in parts of Scandinavia of putting up a "maypole" for the Summer Solstice, may stem from this earlier form of using trees as "conduits" for our prayers for continued good fortune.
Each year at Butser Ancient Farm in Hampshire, England they create a giant "Wicker Man" which they burn on Beltane to celebrate the growing season.
Whatever the other embellishments, clearly our ancestors considered that fire had an important, central role in spiritual ceremonies. Even today, traditional peoples who live their lives closely connected to the land use fire in similar manners. The act of "sacrificing" everything from candy to animals to a fire is still done from the Andes to Africa and throughout Asia.
We have had a very long relationship with fire. Evidence for controlled use of fire has been proposed for burnt bones at the site of Swartkrans in South Africa at 1.5 million years and for patches of dirt at Chesowanja in Kenya at 1.4 million years.* We have used it to warm our homes, cook our food, keep predators at bay and "speak" to the divine for many millennia.
As emissaries for the Great Fire of the Sun, our smaller fires help us to remember that no life on our planet could be possible without its warmth.
-Evelyn
© 2008 Evelyn C Rysdyk
*This date was confirmed in 2004 at the Paleoanthropology Society Annual Meeting in Montreal, Canada. The researched used electron spin resonance spectroscopy which is another method to accurately date organic material.
Evelyn C. Rysdyk, author of Modern Shamanic Living is a nationally recognized presenter. Included in the book Traveling Between the Worlds she is among the world’s most influential writers and teachers of shamanism.
Originally trained in core shamanism, she has integrated practices taught to her by elders from North and South America, Central Asia, Nepal and Siberia. She is also a Medicine for the Earth Teacher--teaching ways that transfigured human energy can heal our planet.
With her partner C. Allie Knowlton, MSW, LCSW, DCSW she presentseco-spiritually focused training programs--which include advanced shamanism and shamanic healing---across the USA and Canada. In addition, as a founding member of True North, a unique, integrated medical center in Falmouth, Maine--she collaborates with physicians, nurses, a psychiatrist, a naturopath and several other complementary healthcare practitioners to provide a new model of health care that includes the spirit.
www.spiritpassages.org | www.spiritliving.org
Having a Midsummer or Solstice fire ritual is another way to practice gratitude. Check out the P.L.A.Y. section of this issue to find a simple ceremony to both honor the first day of Summer and give thanks for all the bounty you have in your life. You may also wish to use your Solstice fire as a way to honor and thank the ancestors for making your life possible. -Editors.
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