Litha Past and Present

Litha is also known as the summer solstice, Midsummer, All Couples Day, and Saint John’s Day. Litha is one of the fire festivals and occurs on the longest day of the year. This is the time of year when the sun reaches its highest apex, at the Tropic of Cancer. It is the day when light overcomes darkness, a day of power.
Those who celebrated Litha did so wearing garlands or crowns of flowers, and of course, their millinery always included the yellow blossoms of St. John’s Wort. The Litha rites of the ancients were boisterous communal festivities with morris dancing, singing, storytelling, pageantry, and feasting taking place by the village bonfire and torch-lit processions through the villages after dark. People believed that the Litha fires possessed great power and that prosperity and protection for oneself and one’s clan could be earned merely by jumping over the Litha bonfire. It was also common for courting couples to join hands and jump over the embers of the Litha fire three times to ensure a long and happy marriage, financial prosperity, and many children.
Litha is a time to celebrate both the God and the Goddess. It is a time to reflect on the growth of the season. Seeds planted in the Earth as well as our own seeds of our souls. A time of cleansing and renewal. A time of joyous Love and growth.