With that being done, we headed over to Olbrich Park for the Solstice bonfire. If I recall, it would have been more appropriate for them to have called it a Midsummer's Day festival or some such thing as the summer solstice was on Thursday. However, Midsummer celebrations are usually held on the 23rd or 24th due to Western civilization rehoolying its calendars a few hundred years ago. (Can any paganfolk confirm or deny this?) Activities on Saturday had started around four o'clock so we missed all the canoeing and eating. Instead we found a circle of folks massed around a bonfire.
If you look closely at the above photo, you can kinda sorta see the drummers behind the flames. Folks were writing things down on small sheets of paper and casting them into the flames. They must have been wishes that they wanted to come true because I'm fairly certain one traditionally writes things you want to say goodbye to and commit them to the fire on the winter solstice. Anyway, there were a couple large puppets there and one of them was helping turn kids who, no doubt, read Harry Potter, into Satan worshippers.
The Green Man was also present. I am rather partial to his foliated visage which must explain why I have a tattoo of him on my arm.
As I stood and watched the fire, a woman approached the person next to me as she clutched a small pine tree. She had apparently saved her Christmas tree and was finally disposing of it. I got the impression that she does this every year. Drier than the Sahara Desert, it made for some nice flames.
While I always enjoy a good fire, the celebration was a small reminder that we're going to be seeing less and less of our distant Sister Sun. Next month is my birthday and shortly after that it'll be harvest time. The next thing you know, it'll be snowing.
Next up – Lughnassadh, where we eat corn like it's 1999!
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