June 20th-23rd is the celebration of Summer Solstice, also known as Litha. The Summer Solstice marks the longest day and shortest night of the year. The night of Summer Solstice has long been revered as a time of magic and manifestation, when the sun is at the height of its power in the shadow of the waxing Moon.
In old Celtic traditions, the Summer Solstice festival usually spanned several days and focused on outdoor events under the open sun by day, and ’round a large bonfire by night. Solstice marked the official start of Summer when crops were ripening, and trees and bushes were starting to produce fruit. It was a time of giving thanks to the Gods & Goddesses of the Sun, Fire, Fertility, & Abundance.
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Although the name Litha is not well attested, it may come from Saxon tradition -- the opposite of Yule. On this longest day of the year, light and life are abundant. At mid-summer, the Sun God has reached the moment of his greatest strength. Seated on his greenwood throne, he is also lord of the forests, and his face is seen in church architecture peering from countless foliate masks.
The Christian religion converted this day of Jack-in-the-Green to the Feast of St. John the Baptist, often portraying him in rustic attire, sometimes with horns and cloven feet (like the Greek Demi-God Pan)
Midsummer Night's Eve is also special for adherents of the Faerie faith. The alternative fixed calendar date of June 25 (Old Litha) is sometimes employed by Covens. The name Beltane is sometimes incorrectly assigned to this holiday by some modern traditions of Wicca, even though Beltane is the Gaelic word for May.
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