Celebrating the soltice

I am fully aware that this is more than likely my intollerance... but i wonder, why do people who are not pagan any other time of the year celebrate the summer solstice?

My FB page is full of people saying "who's celebrating tonight?".. but i bet none of them even know what or when Imbolg is, let alone celebrate it....

I know, probably me being grumpy... so I'll grump off......

[norseman]

Tilia, you only have to look at the majority of people who gather each year at Stonehenge to realise that most of them do not know the significance of the date.
p.s. Also look at the amount of litter they leave behind !
Most REAL pagans avoid Stonehenge like the plague.

I was going to post about that but thought it would be too grumpy.

I was at a winter solstice led by Emma Restall Orr and we couldn't use the henge because the "revellers" made too much of a mess. Says something when an organised Druid event can't use the stones because of the drunks and stoners!!!

[Spiritlite]

I am kind of pagan and do celebrate the solstice can you educate us more about the pagan significance of summer soltice, I have a pretty good idea of it, but can you tell us more?
Spiritlite.

[norseman]

Spiritlite, the significance is almost nothing to do with being a pagan. It is to do with the Wheel of the Year. The Sun passes through the Wheel in a fixed cycle, and the Wheel represents the ebb and flow reflecting the passage of the seasons. The Craft year reflects this Tide of Nature which was well known to the neolithic farmers and their shaman. The four solar festivals are seen as aligned to the four cardinal points of the circle, and the four fire festivals with the cross-quarter points. So, man follows where Nature leads, as it always was and, hopefully, always will be.
The summer solstice, Coamhain, associated with the zenith of the sun's strength, with things beginning to ripen, and with maturity and the prime of life. Almost every ancient culture recognised this solstice [and the winter solstice]. Worth noting that the date is given as ABOUT June 21st - Nature does not work to a strict timetable, all farmers are well aware of this fact.
And I am starting to rabbit on about the wonder of Mother Nature so I will shut up
[Tilia, Stonehenge is not the ONLY henge - we have a secret in the North ]

rabbit away Norsey

For me it is the fight between the oak king and the holly king with the holly king killing the oak king representing the triumph of dark over light as we are entering the dark half of the year.

As a sun worshiper this is not something for me to celebrate as it's downhill now until Yule... now Yule? That IS something to celebrate!!!!!

I see the cycle of the seasons connected to the ebb and flow of nature too. It is about the growing season and how people lived with the land. All the mythology for me is a metaphor to explain those cycles.

[norseman]

" not something for me to celebrate as it's downhill now until Yule."

What about [my favourite !] Samhain ?

that's a time to bed down with chocolate and my SAD lamp and wait out yule and imbolg!!!

i really struggle with the dark half :(

[norseman]

tut, tut ! Best time to walk the hedge

since changing jobs I have lost my giant window that I used to sit next to so I don't get enough sunlight, so suffer from SAD.

Last winter was better than the one before as I am adding stuff that I can do to get through it. Bought my SAD lamp last winter and increased my Vit D intake.. but most of the time it is enough to get through to April. Yule and Imbolg are markers to tell me I am getting there... but I really don't have the motivation to get outside much.

This winter I am planning to add a half hour walk at lunch time during the week which will help a little more I think.

Until I get it sussed I will continue to worship the Sun King and his enlivening rays!!!!