Summer Solstice (Litha) – When the Sun Dances and the World Casts a Spell

Litha, the festival of light and fertility. Celebrate the longest day of the year with rituals, flowers, and gratitude. The sun is dancing within you right now.

Imagine an evening when the day refuses to give way to the night. The sun hangs low above the horizon like a golden jewel, the grass smells of freshly cut summer, and laughter can be heard in the distance. Today is different. Summer Solstice – Litha – it is here.

It is the day when The sun reigns in the sky, the day when nature unfolds in fullness, when the world and we reach our peak. And it is also a time when The gates between the worlds open wide open. When the whisper of goddesses resounds through the earth, when water shimmers with mystery and fire beckons to dance.

Astronomical summer 2025 will begin on Saturday June 21 at 4:42 am, when the Sun enters the sign of Cancer. The day will be the longest, while the night will be the shortest. It is then that the Sun reaches its northernmost locations. Enjoy a mysterious, myth-ridden event – the pinnacle of light, joy and solar energy.

This day is celebrated in different cultures under different names: Litha, Midsummer, Midsummer, Summer Solstice. But the essence is common: honoring life, fertility, the sun and love. In the past, people felt a connection with nature as something completely natural. They knew that without the Sun there would be no harvest, without light there would be no life.

Our ancestors celebrated it with reverence and joy – and so can we. Because sensitive souls still feel it: a surge of energy, sharp perception, a desire to celebrate.

On the day of the solstice, people have long they worshipped the Sun, they thanked him for the harvest and the light. Celts they perceived its ultimate power as healing, spiritual, and transformative.

The hills were ablaze with fire. Bonfires were burning, around which people danced until dawn. Couples jumped over the fire, people sang, drank mead, burned herbs. The air was full of scents and silent wishes.

It was also a tradition to bake bread, eat part of it before dark and offer the rest to the flames – as a thank you and a request for health and success.

AND water? It was considered cleansing. Bathing in a natural source – a stream, river, pond or morning dew – cleansed body and soul. Forget the shower. Try walking barefoot through the dew or just rinsing yourself with water from a well.

The summer solstice is also associated with traditional herb collection(see article Witchcraft herbs). According to old customs, they have the greatest power on this day – precisely because solar energy peaks

It is said that one should collect properly nine types of herbsThe basis is usually thyme, supplemented, for example, by:

• St. John's wort
• sage-brush
• cornflower
• elderflower
• clover
• plantain
• a little bit of luck
• rose
• pansy
• marigold
• basil

• Light a candle – gold or yellow. And imagine lighting the light within you.
• Knit a wreath – or put flowers in your hair.
• Write on paper: What are you grateful for? What do you wish for? What do you want to let go of?
• Take a bath with herbs – for example, St. John's wort, mint, lavender.
• Dance in the open air – or at least at home with music that makes you shine.

Midsummer's Eve, coming shortly after the solstice, is the night of miracles. It is said that at that time fern is blooming – and whoever finds it will have their wish come true. Girls used to put it under their pillows nine flowersso that their beloved appears to them in a dream.

It's a night when the world smells of magic, wishes are whispered into the water, and every step with bare feet in the dew is like a caress from the Goddess. Magic works – if you believe in it.

The summer solstice is not about a perfect ritual. It's about the joy of being. The feeling that the light is here – and in you. That you can celebrate life just by being. Nature dances, the Sun sings – and you are a part of it all.

"I celebrate the light within me. I welcome the joy, abundance, and power of life."

"I am a goddess. My light is a gift."

"My heart is open. I am ready to live life to the fullest."

Solstice Festival (Opava, 19–21. 6. 2025)
The only weekend festival with music, theater and ritual blocks. Including special application support musicfestivalwizard.com+10festivalslunovrat.cz+10facebook.com+10.

Summer Solstice Celebration (Prague – Divoká Šárka, 21 June, from 11 am)
Druidic rituals, stages and connection with nature under Šestáková skála – organized by Druidi.cz budejovice.rozhlas.cz+6druidi.cz+6facebook.com+6.

Stonehenge, England

Annual morning gathering at sunrise celebration 20-21 June; thousands of people, druids, magical moments facebook.com+1druidi.cz+1