Summer Solstice
Not until June can the grass be said to be waving in the fields. When the frogs dream, and the grass waves, and the buttercups toss their heads… then is summer begun.
–Henry David Thoreau, The Journal
Solstice or “sun stands still” in Latin. The two solstices happen in June (20 or 21) and December (21 or 22) when the Sun’s path in the sky is the farthest north or south from the Equator, producing our shortest and longest days of the year. In our December newsletter we talked about the winter solstice, so on the eve of summer solstice it’s fun to think about the ways we observe its June counterpart.
In a fine essay titled Summer Solstice, Nina Maclaughlin cites sources as varied as Virgil and Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin and James Joyce, in her exploration of the significance of this time of midsummer transition and celebration.
Shakespeare’s comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, possibly takes place on June 24, the day in which England celebrates midsummer. As in its winter counterpart, Twelfth Night, his characters are up to all kinds of mischief-making, romantic intrigue, and enchanted delights.
With fewer formal traditions than those that surround the December Yule holidays, the arrival of summer solstice perhaps allows us more freedom to devise our own celebrations in honor of the time/timelessness of the turning of the year.
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson caught my eye just in time to celebrate the summer solstice this year. This exhilarating author was a new discovery for me. Jansson (1914-2001) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish author and artist who wrote novels, short stories, and both authored and illustrated a brilliant book series and comic strip called Moomin.
Her characters are endearing and adventurous, appealing to both adults and children, like the riverbank creatures of Wind in the Willows, or Schulz’s Peanuts gang.
…a novel luminous as a piece of beach glass.
-Nina Maclaughlin of The Summer Book
The Summer Book takes place over the course of one summer on a small island in the Gulf of Finland. In a series of short vignette/chapters, young Sophia and her grandmother spend the summer engaged in the rhythms of the island life, including the midsummer celebration. There is not even a sprinkle of sentimentality in this book, but you will discover plenty of humor and a disarming wisdom.
It was just the same long summer, always,
and everything lived and grew at its own pace.
-The Summer Book
There is a surprisingly large number of people who go around dreaming about an island.
-Tove Jansson
Jansson’s own life experience was mirrored in her writing as she spent idyllic childhood summers with her family in a fisherman’s cottage in the Pellinge archipelago, and continued the tradition throughout her adult life.
After meeting and falling in love with graphic artist Tuulikki Pietilä, the two spent their summers together on the island of Klovharun for thirty years. The book Notes From An Island, due for publication in October 2024, chronicles their experiences. Jansson’s writing along with Pietilä’s artwork represents the rugged beauty of the island with its unique ecosystem and celebrates the bond the two shared as artists and partners.
(We will revisit Tove’s treasure trove of fiction, letters, and childrens’ books in a future issue)
As Keats expressed, the beginning of things always contains their end. Summer begins with the longest day but each day is shortening after that, until the cycle is complete and we find ourselves again in the heart of winter.
The wisdom of observing and celebrating these cycles possibly goes back as far as our prehistoric ancestors constructing Stonehenge to align with the sun on the solstices.
Summer is made of the memory of summer,
a gentle flight backward.
-Nina Maclaughlin
Summer means a time of bounty and hopefully taking a break from some of the usual routines in order to enjoy long days of relaxation and exploration.
Even if you haven’t discovered your secluded island of repose, you can always create it with a good book and your own imagination.
Happy Reading and Happy Solstice!
