A little bit of Litha Love

Whether you call it Litha, Midsummer, the summer solstice or for me, my Grandad’s birthday, it is what it is and Litha is celebrated on June 21st!

Our calendars mark today as the official start of summer. The weather has definitely been summery of late so for once we can enjoy this day in full sunshine instead of rain!

We started our morning by building an altar. Tied it in with a spot of colour matching with Loki and we gathered all the warm colours; reds, oranges and yellows. Blue is also traditionally associated with today but Loki was having none of it so we left that colour out!

There were more strawberries but Loki ate most of them while I faffed about with the camera! So we ended up with several variations of the altar and Loki helped take the pictures. After we done Loki whispered “fire” and I lit the candle!

Loki loves the wee witch’s cauldron and took great delight in filling it with Grapat loose parts and emptying it over and over again. A nice way to practice his counting skills too… 1, 2, 3, 8, 4, done, 7?!

Traditionally this time of year we celebrate the longest day and embrace the light. The pagan Wheel turns and marks the next change in the season. The lighter nights are wreaking havoc with the boys sleeping patterns but it’s not for too much longer. Black out curtains are definitely the way forward!

Edward loved learning about the solstice this year. The whole concept that the Gods of the night and day are having this constant battle for control is something that really sparks his imagination. He’s got a real love for the Greek mythology at the moment, so the idea of multiple gods each playing a part is right up his street.

Here is his interpretation of the day and night in imperfect balance;

This time of year is all about enjoying the bountiful supplies the earth can offer us. Freshly grown goodies in our allotment and garden are filling our bellies and the seemlessly never ending light means plenty of playtime outside after school. Breathing it all in to stock up on the lesser spotter sunshine is something we Scots should really be embracing!

We went to visit Stonehenge a few years ago (not on the solstice unfortunately, but maybe one day!). Edward and Oren loved it. It was a beautiful morning and we all got a little swept up in the magic of it all. Also the sheer size of the stones was truly a sight to behold!

Oren wanted to build the Stonehenge so we could reenact how the light falls on the stones so we used the Grimms small stepped pyramid and created a pretty faithful version in wooden blocks!

We used a torch to create shadows and tried to mimic (fairly successfully) how the sun rises over the stones it was lots of fun!

Well until Loki happened…

Ooh and just before we went to bed we left some honey out for the fairies, just in case!