Maryland Kayaker

Third Quarter Moon
2027-05-28 - 2027-05-29, 2027-06-27 - 2027-06-28, 2027-07-26 - 2027-07-27, 2027-08-24 - 2027-08-25

John F. Kennedy's Birthday
2027-05-29 - 2027-05-30

Memorial Day
2027-05-31 - 2027-06-01

New Moon
2027-06-04 - 2027-06-05, 2027-07-03 - 2027-07-04, 2027-08-02 - 2027-08-03, 2027-08-31 - 2027-09-01

D-Day
2027-06-06 - 2027-06-07

First Quarter Moon
2027-06-11 - 2027-06-12, 2027-07-10 - 2027-07-11, 2027-08-09 - 2027-08-10, 2027-09-07 - 2027-09-08

Flag Day
2027-06-14 - 2027-06-15

Full Moon
2027-06-18 - 2027-06-19, 2027-07-18 - 2027-07-19, 2027-08-17 - 2027-08-18, 2027-09-15 - 2027-09-16

Juneteenth
2027-06-19 - 2027-06-20

Father's Day
2027-06-20 - 2027-06-21

First Day of Summer
2027-06-21 - 2027-06-22

Summer Solstice
2027-06-21 - 2027-06-22
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.
Far from solemn occasions, Northern Heathen celebrations are about joy and abundance. The Heathen faith of Asatru embraces life, forging bonds of caring and connection with Gods, Goddesses, kith, kin, and local spirits, called wights.
Speaking to the local land wights, and seeking their consent to a gathering before it takes place, is considered common courtesy among Reconstructionists. In a secluded place before the gathering begins, a child is often chosen to place offerings such as porridge and butter out for the wights. These spirits were on the land first, and the gift of their consent deserves a gift in return.
In honor of the strength of light and warmth that are Sunna’s blessing, fire is a central part of the celebration at this Holy Tide.
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.
Midsummer is an auspicious time for divination. Runes-mystery symbols provided by Odin, the All-Father-are often used for readings. Signs and dreams around this Holy Tide are given special respect, as are portents of birds, clouds, and other reflections of the Northern Way’s connection to nature. Joy and fellowship abound, nurtured by fine food and good company.
When the long day wanes and Sunna starts to dip behind the horizon, Heathen folk gather once again around the bonfire to stand in Blot (worship) to those they term their Eldest Kin. Those Gods and Goddesses of the Northern Pantheon are hailed in this ancient rite of passing a mead horn among those assembled. This act of sharing a hallowed drink forges bonds of caring and well being between the people and the Gods, drawing the mind and soul of man closer to the divine.
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.

June Solstice
2027-06-21 - 2027-06-22

Independence Day
2027-07-04 - 2027-07-05

Lughnasadh/Lammas
2027-08-01 - 2027-08-02
Celebrating Summer’s End The ancient customs of the Celtic festival Lughnasa, and how you can honor the holiday today.
Ancient Celtic Fire Festival marking the height of Summer and the first of the harvest. Anglo-Saxons called it Lammas, for loaf-mass, after the blessing of bread, made from the first harvest of grain.
Modern pagans celebrate the wheel of the year with eight seasonal holidays?the solstices and equinoxes and the cross-quarter-days in between. The ancient Celtic festival Lughnasa (pronounced loonasah), falling midway between summer solstice and autumn equinox, marks the end of summer and the beginning of the harvest. The Anglo-Saxons called it Lammas, for loaf-mass, after the blessing of bread, made from the first harvest of grain. Today, most pagans observe the holiday on August 1.
The 1990 play “Dancing at Lughnasa” (later a movie starring Meryl Streep) depicts the melancholy that underlies this festival, the sorrow at the end of summer, the sacrifice that comes with cutting the grain.
In ancient times, Lughnasa was also the time of an assembly in honor of the Celtic hero-god Lugh (nasad means assembly). The poet Cuan o’Lothchain wrote in 1007 that the purpose of the assembly was to provide corn, milk, good weather, and peace, and that Ireland will always have song as long as the assembly is held.
At the famous assembly in Leinster, Ireland, which was held in August every third year and lasted for seven days, a poem was written in 1040 to celebrate the fair. This description gives a flavor of what it must have been like:
Three busy markets on the ground,
A market of food, a market of live stock,
The great market of the Greek strangers
Where there is gold and fine raiment.
The slope of the horses, the slope of the cooking,
The slope of the women met for embroidery.
Folklorist Maire MacNeill wrote a book about Lughnasa, looking for clues about the origins of the festival from a variety of sources including a survey administered in Ireland in 1942. As a folklorist, I always look at the simple, earth-based folk customs that persist for the core themes of the holiday.
This holiday has many names, including Bron Trogain, sometimes translated as “earth sorrows under her fruits.” Other names refer to customs associated with the holiday like Garlic Sunday, Black Crom’s Sunday, the Last Sunday of Summer, the First Sunday of Autumn, Bilberry Sunday, and Garland Sunday.
Climbing a mountain is one of the most characteristic aspects of Lughnasa. People climbed mountains all over Ireland, often picking bilberries as they go, thus giving rise to the popular name of Bilberry Sunday. Bilberries are one of the first berries to ripen in Ireland (today, where I live in Seattle, we?re more likely to be harvesting the first blackberries). In some places, boys threaded the berries on grass stalks and make bracelets of them for the girls of their choice. In Cashel Plantin’ in County Armagh, these strung berries were brought home as presents and kept around the house for luck.
In County Mayo, people wore garlands made from the stalks of corn. In other places, the garlands were fashioned from flowers and left on mountain tops, along with other offerings such as wheat. At Gainmhe in County Donegal, everyone wore a flower going up hill and at the summit all the flowers were put into a hole and covered over, as a sign that summer was over.
Since many scholars believe Lugh was a sun-god, it makes sense that people would climb mountains and leave offerings for him in high places. But some believe the offerings were left for the fairies, who would be extraordinarily active on quarter days. MacNeill believes the practice of standing on a peak overlooking the landscape, keeps alive a passion for the land and its history.
Many of the customs of Lughnasa have slowly faded away over the centuries, but some traditions are still honored. It’s said to be lucky to harvest new potatoes on Lughnasa and unlucky to dig them up earlier. The farmers of Ballinrobe, County Mayo, said there were three things a good farmer should have left on Garlic Sunday: a stack of unthreshed oats, a stack of old turf, and a pit of old potatoes (thus showing his ability to properly allocate his resources).
It?s also traditional to have the potatoes for dinner on Lughnasa, often with bacon and cabbage, or in Colcannon (a dish of potatoes, mixed with butter or milk and seasoned with garlic, onion or cabbage).
And pilgrims still climb Mount Brandon on the last Sunday in July, circumambulating the ruined medieval church and the nearby well, under the watchful eyes of a sculpture of Crom Dubh, the Celtic god of harvest.
If you want to honor this ancient holiday, incorporate these Lughnasa traditions into your celebrations:
Hike to a mountaintop where you can overlook the land
Gather flowers and leave them as an offering to the sun god, or the fairies.
You could also bury them or burn them as a sign that summer has passed
Go berry picking
Enjoy new potatoes, or whatever you harvest from your garden
Dance and sing around a bonfire

Labor Day
2027-09-06 - 2027-09-07

Patriots Day
2027-09-11 - 2027-09-12

Grandparents Day
2027-09-12 - 2027-09-13
