Summer Solstice

Midsummer: A Celebration of the Goddess Sunna For Northern Heathens, marking the Holy Tide of Midsummer is a joyous celebration of kith and kin, Gods, Goddesses, and nature.

Spring is waning. Sunna, Heathen Goddess of the Sun, drives her chariot through the darkening sky. On Midsummer Eve, Sunna’s strength begins to decline, and those who honor her gather to celebrate this passage. For the Reconstructionists of the pre-Christian religions of Northern Europe, this is the Heathen Holy Tide of Midsummer. Songs are sung, poems are read, libations and toasts fill the air. The day is Summer Solstice Eve.
A focal point is a bonfire set ablaze early on Midsummer Eve. Adding fuel to a Midsummer bonfire is said to bring good fortune, and celebrants throw in flowers and other burnt offerings-including little dolls of twisted straw that have been wished upon. Dancing, singing, and telling tales around the blaze are also traditional. Leaping through the flames for luck, health, good crops-or loving relationships-is common behavior at a Midsummer celebration.
Creating Sunwheels-flaming wheels rolled down grassy hills-are a traditional way of honoring Sunna’s waning days after the solstice. For those wary of the rolling flames, decorations in the form of a Sunwheel-an equal-armed cross inside a circle, made from wire, beads, pipe cleaners, Mason jar lids, almost anything you can think of-as well as Sunwheel-shape cookies and cakes can be safely substituted and hung on a Midsummer tree.
If the celebration is held by a pond or lake, celebrants often craft model Viking longboats, fill them with symbolic gifts, and then set them adrift and ablaze in reverence to the ancestors and their funeral practices.

A vigil is kept through the night to greet Sunna’s return with the dawn. During this watch, the celebrants join in another sacred rite, Sumble. The mead horn is again passed, as praise, stories, and boasts are exchanged. Those assembled forge bonds of kith and kin with each other, deepening friendships and family relations with this holy sharing.
As Sunna’s chariot again appears at the dawning of the Summer Solstice, another Great Blessing has been celebrated. The Holy Wheel of the year has moved on.