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June 20th

Amid all this season's festivals of male potency and female fertility, today's rite of Anubis' Journey is most mysterious. On this day Anubis, the Opener of the Way who conducts souls to the Duat, or land of the dead, goes to visit every necropolis in Egypt. His day in this cycle is one of the Egyptian calendar's most emphatic reminders of the presence of death even amid the late Spring surge of new life, and is in some ways a counterpart to the middle European Mother Night, on 12/20. (Mesore 7)

6/20 - 23 (4 days):

Among the Lakota and other Native Americans of the plains, the four days before, during and after the Summer Solstice are the annual time of the Sun Dance, a festival of fasting and healing ceremonies affirming the manifestation of Takuskanskan the Creator in all things.

For Tibetan Buddhists, this 15th day of the 4th lunar month is the culmination of the great annual spring festival celebrating the birth, enlightenment and parinirvana of the Buddha.

6/20 (Mon), 12:48pm HT; 10:48pm UT:

The Summer Solstice, one of the four major festivals of the solar year, when the Sun reaches the quarter points on the zodiac wheel. It now reaches the cardinal ("hinge") point of 90°, as the Sun enters the sign of Cancer, the Crab. For the next month, the side-to-side moves of the Crab are favored in all things. This is more a time to organize what has been gained, and plan what comes next, than it is either to start new enterprises or dissolve old ones that don't work. The Crab lives where it can jump sideways into an ocean wave when threats appear. Those who have the grace, humility and aquatic skill to do this are favored now. The sideways motion of the Crab is also that of the Farmer, who works sideways in rows to preserve productive order.

Among the countless Summer Solstice celebrations and ceremonies: The Sonnenwende ("Sun's turning") of the Norse calendar, so named because at this point in the year, the Sun reaches its farthest northern sunset point on the horizon, and must now begin moving south, and bringing with it the hotter, more rapid movement of Summer, and everything else that the South implies. The season of husbandry begins now in bonfires that mark this day as the one when the Sun's light stays longest in the Sky.

In northern Russia, especially in St. Petersburg, this day begins the White Nights, which last for the next ten days. In this and other fire festivals that can get more raucous than most, fireworks and all, many people love the days of the Long Light because this is the best time to burn the chaff and the worry of the year gone by, and get ready to work the field under the waxing Sun, and care for children.

In the Celtic calendar, this day is called Litha, and honors the Water Goddess. Many European peoples also honor the Green Man, leafy symbol of nature's resurgence, counterpart to the Egyptian Osiris. (Photo -- with the author as the Green Man -- courtesy Charles Priest of Da Kine Rags).

The Inti Rayni, the Inca festival of the Sun, is celebrated on June 20 and 21.

Taoist festival honoring the Heavenly Emperor Shang-Ti and celebrating the active presence of the Tao in all things. This is the time when the masculine Yang force is at its peak, and initiates the season of fire, south and Summer.

In some Native American calendars, this day begins the Month of the Flicker. Hunting is easier than it usually is.

In many ancient calendars, this is one of the year's best times for honoring Wise Women. In the Greco-Roman calendar, this was the Day of All Heras (Roman counterpart Juno, for whom this month is named), when people gather to listen to women who have achieved spiritual Union with the Great Goddess. In ancient Britain this was the Day of Cerridwen, celebrating all Wise Women.

The ancient people of Lithuania, which once extended through much of central Europe, celebrated near the Summer Solstice -- actually as a movable feast on the first Full Moon following the Solstice -- a rite called the Binding of the Wreaths, when couples about to marry at the Full Moon danced within wreaths made out of greenery and flowers, and wore flower crowns symbolizing the fertility of the God and Goddess newly united in marriage.

Copyright 2005 Dan Furst.